Happy Anniversary
by ringanybells
Summary: Marshall and Mary decide to take their relationship to the next level. But when the truth is revealed, new partners are deemed both necessary and non-negotiable. Will there be a happy ending or will the new guys get someone killed? M/M, Post Don't Cry.
1. Chapter 1

It took two days for Mary to open her eyes. They kept her unconscious until she was able to breathe on her own and the tube could be removed. After that, they had to wait for the drugs to wear off. When she did wake up, the man sitting next to her bed was not the one she wanted to see. But he was certainly the one she needed to see. The moment she'd seen the gun, she'd had only one thought, _Marshall's gonna kill me._ Staring death in the face, she hadn't thought about her fiancé, she'd thought about her partner, her best friend, the one person in the world for whom she would rather die than live without. It was quite a wakeup call. She had painted herself into a corner with Raphael, and now she needed to find a way to get out of it.

She took a deep breath and turned to face him, "Raph…"

Mary noticed that there was no relief in his eyes, though it was present in his voice. "Mary, sweetheart, thank God."

Mary tried to shrug, but didn't quite have the strength. "I didn't mean to worry you." Though she sincerely hadn't meant to upset him with her words, she saw a flash in his eyes.

"Then you should be more careful. You've had us all worried sick. Jinx, Brandi, and I have been sitting in this hospital for two days, waiting for you to wake up." Raphael didn't mean to sound angry. But seeing her these last two days, lying still, pale, looking so lifeless had taken a toll on him. So had the constant presence of her partner, who always seemed to be in her room, regardless of the time.

Though she should have seen it coming, she still felt as though the air had been kicked from her chest. She hadn't even been awake for ten minutes and already someone was starting in on her, blaming her for her lack of consideration; as though she had intentionally gotten shot just to put her family out. "Well, I never asked you to sit around staring at me. It's not my fault that you all don't have the sense to listen to the doctors."

Raph bristled at her hostile tone. "Do you have any idea what its like to know someone you love is lying in a hospital bed and not know whether they were going to wake up?"

Against her own will, images of Marshall flashed through her mind, tubes in his arm, leads on his chest, eyes closed. She'd sat by his bed for several hours after he'd been shot, and she'd sat by his side watching him struggle to breath in a diner. Each hour that passed had seemed like an eternity. "Yes, I do Raph. And I'm sorry that I couldn't recover from my gunshot in a more timely fashion. I promise that next time, I'll be more punctual."

For a moment, confusion registered in Raphael's gaze, "Next time? What do you mean? This isn't going to happen again."

Mary understood what Raph was trying to say, but it would never be a concession she was willing to make. A very wise man had once told her that love was wanting to be with someone because of who they were, not despite. She was a U.S. marshal, and no man who truly loved her could ask her to be anything less. And yet, she could read in Raphael's eyes that he was going to do just that. She tried to keep her cool. "Raph, you know I can't promise that. Gunfire is a part of my job, you know that."

"Then perhaps it is time for a change. I almost lost you, Mary. You had a tube down your throat, and at one point your heart stopped beating. I can't handle that happening again." Raphael was trying to be honest.

Mary didn't have the strength to make a fight out of this. And to be honest with herself, she didn't want to. "And I won't ask you to."

"So you'll quit?" Raphael couldn't believe his ears.

"Leaving the marshal service would break my heart, Raph. I love my job, I need my job. It is the first thing I've ever had in my life that has been mine. When nothing else in the world makes sense, being a marshal does. When I feel like everything in my world is falling apart, I know that I can find sanctuary at the office. It's more home to me then the house we live in. And the people there are more of a family than Jinx and Brandi have ever been. Asking me to quit is like pointing a gun at me yourself, do you get that?" The IV drip attached to her arm had effectively knocked down her walls. She found herself being a lot more honest than she normally would be.

Raphael understood then. "You're not quitting." He watched Mary shake her head. He nodded his own in comprehension. "Then I guess this is the part where I tell you to stay safe and that even if I'm not your fiancé, I'm still your friend." He saw her open her mouth. Not sure what she would say, but sure he wasn't ready to hear it, he placed his fingers over her lips and leaned forward placing a kiss on her forehead. "It's alright, Mary. You're right, asking you to quit your job would be unfair. I know how much it means to you. And one day soon, you'll find the man who can stand by your side and watch you face danger. But I'm not him."

She watched him walk away. But she felt no true loss. Instead, she was focusing on what he had said. She already had a man who stood by her side while she faced danger, except he wasn't just standing there, he was watching her back, making sure that danger didn't sneak up on her. And he had been doing it for seven years, that and so much more. And she loved him for it, a fact she hadn't been able to admit until she was staring down the barrel of a gun. But now that her eyes had been opened, she was going to need to talk to him.

She didn't have to wait long. The subject of her thoughts stepped into the doorway not five minutes later. He had an odd look on his face that disappeared the moment he saw her open eyes. "You're awake," a smile bloomed across his face.

Mary felt an answering one spread across her own. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

Marshall shook his head. "No waiting, you're right on schedule. The doc said it would take about ten hours for the drugs to wear off, so you're actually a little early." He crossed the room and fell into the chair that Raph had vacated.

Mary shook her head. Anyone in her family would have reacted just like Raph, allowing her to shoulder the blame and pointing out what an inconvenience it all was. But Marshall rarely ever let her take the blame, at least not completely, even when it was her fault. Wanting to set him at ease, as he always did for her, she turned to their usual banter, "Wow, early? I guess there's a first time for everything."

Hearing the joviality in Mary's voice lifted Marshall's heart. He'd spent the last two days in a constant state of worry. "Indeed there is." He took a deep breath and then decided to inquire about Raph's departure. He'd seen the man leaving on his way in but couldn't understand why he would be going if Mary was finally awake. "So, I saw Raph headed out. Was there something you needed from the house…"He left the statement open, hoping she'd be more inclined to explain.

Mary let out a sigh, Marshall was one of the few people who ever bothered to pay attention to her life. Sometimes it was a pain in the ass, but other times, she was amazed. He was giving her the perfect opening to bring about the topic she wanted to discuss with him. "No, I don't need anything. He's not cut out to be a cop's wife. He doesn't want to spend the rest of his life waiting for _the call_. And I'm not cut out to be anything other than what I am. It just took a hole in my stomach for both of us to admit that."

Marshall nodded, understanding what Mary was saying. He couldn't exactly blame Raphael. He never wanted to receive another phone call that sent him rushing to the hospital, hoping to see the woman he loved alive when he got there. But at the same time, he would rather be waiting for that call than not in Mary's life at all. Of course, he shouldn't ever be getting that call to begin with, because he should be there by her side. "I'm sorry, Mare." And he was, though he hated the idea of her marrying another man, he would never wish pain on her. And though she seemed to be handling this well, he knew watching men walk out of her life was painful for her.

Before Mary could broach her new found realization, she needed to know where Marshall stood. He'd been out on a date two days ago. If he saw any potential in that woman, Mary didn't want to ruin it by dumping her feelings on him. "Don't worry about it. So how's your love life going?"

Confusion clouded Marshall's face, "What do you mean?"

Mary rolled her eyes, "The date, numbnuts, how'd it go?"

It took Marshall a moment to figure out what she was saying, but when he did, the guilt was suffocating. "Mare, I am so sorry. I never should have left you there alone. I should have cancelled and stayed with you. If I had thought for a second…though I guess that was the problem, I wasn't thinking. I was…"

"Marshall, stop it. I didn't mean it like that." She stopped his self-damning tirade. She hadn't meant to suggest she blamed him. "I told you to go, remember? I don't blame you, and if you ever try to blame yourself, I will beat you to within an inch of your life, got it?" She waited for him to nod before continuing. "I honestly just wanted to know how your date went. My fiancé just walked out on me, I'd like to know there's still some hope out there." She phrased it so that he would think she wanted reassurance that love was still out there, but in reality, she wanted to know if _he_ was still out there.

Marshall took a moment to push the guilt back down. It didn't matter what she said about whose fault it was, he knew he'd always blame himself. And he felt fully justified with that because he knew she still blamed herself for what happened to him. It was how partners worked. Then, knowing the story of his ill-fated date would cheer her up, he shared. "Sorry to disappoint, but if you're looking for reassurance that love is, in fact, in the air, I'm not your guy. I took her to the Balloon Museum," he watched as Mary rolled her eyes. He'd dragged her to the museum at least once a year since she'd moved to Albuquerque. "Everything was going fine at first then she asked where the 'lead zeppelin' she kept hearing about was."

Mary laughed, and regretted it instantly, not that it stopped her. Zeppelin was one of Marshall's all time favorite bands, hers too. "Wow, I bet that was painful for you. Are you sure she wasn't joking?"

Marshall shook his head. "She followed it up by asking how they got it to fly if it was full of lead. Anyway, I was pretty much done after that, and was kind of hoping you'd call with an emergency and save me." Realizing what he said, he was quick to continue, "Of course, if I'd known you were fixing to get yourself shot, I would have gladly just ended the date early. Trust me, there is nothing so bad out there that a phone call like that could be considered a reprieve." His eyes flashed over to the EKG machine, as if checking to make sure her heart was still beating.

She felt for her partner, there was a time not too long ago when she'd sat in this very hospital in a very similar position, her eyes frequently darting to the monitor to make sure he was still alive. "When did you get here?"

He didn't have to ask when she was talking about. "A few seconds after you did; I watched them wheel you down the hall. They had lost your pulse on the way over. I tried to stay with you, begging you to hold on, but they wouldn't let me. I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't brought you back."

Though it was painful to move, Mary reached her hand out to cradle Marshall's cheek. "But they did. I'm fine, Marshall. A few weeks of recovery, I'll be good as new." Seeing the haunted look in his eyes, Mary decided it was now or never. "Marshall, there's something I want to talk to you about."

Marshall felt fear seep into every bone in his body. Despite what she'd said about ending things with Raph, he feared that getting shot would cause Mary to reevaluate the job. She didn't have to be in WitSec to be a marshal, and she didn't have to be his partner to be in WitSec. He tried to keep his voice calm when he responded, "What is it, Mare?"

She took a deep breath to gather her resolve and let it out. "When it comes to the job, I'm really good at what I do. I can see what people are trying to hide and I can figure out the best way to handle pretty much any situation that arises. But in my life, I'm really bad at seeing what's right in front of me. It's one of the reasons that things with my family are the way they are. But sometimes, I do catch on, and when that happens, I can't just ignore it. I know I've asked a lot from you over the years, and I've placed a lot of crap on your shoulders. And you don't need this extra weight," she felt the tear slide down her cheek and cursed herself for not being strong enough to hold them in. She wanted to tell Marshall what she'd figured out, needed to do it, but a part of her was afraid that telling him would drive him away.

But Marshall reached out and brushed the tear away, "Hey, I'm your partner, you can tell me anything. Whatever it is, we'll handle it together, just like we always have." Her obvious distress was not helping his own state of emotions. But he'd rather have her spit whatever it was out then watch her cry.

"I'm not so sure it's something we can handle together. I think I'm on my own with this one. And that's okay," She wanted to reassure him, to let him know she wasn't expecting her feelings returned. She just couldn't keep them to herself. While normally she was tight lipped about her emotions, Marshall had always been the one exception to the rule. He could read her too well. She didn't want to try and lie to him about this, and she didn't want to take the chance that she kept quiet and they missed an opportunity at something greater.

"Mare…" He needed her to spit it out so he could figure out the next step.

"I love you, Marshall. I don't know when it happened but I do. When I saw that gun, you were the only person I was thinking about. And when I woke up, I was disappointed you weren't the one by my side. You were the first person in my life to ever tell me that what I want matters. And before today, I never really knew what that was. But I do now. I'm not looking to have you say it back, I don't expect you to feel the same. I just didn't want to hide it, and I've never been able to lie to you anyway. I've never been in love before, Marsh, and I just didn't want to miss the opportunity of saying it, at least once." She felt like an idiot. When she'd started this, she'd felt so sure telling him was the right choice, but now the fear had grown and she was scared he wouldn't take her affection well.

Marshall let out a sigh, releasing the fear that had been building in his own heart. "Jesus, Mare, you really had me worried for a second." He watched confusion settle into her features. "I thought you were going to leave WitSec, or ask for a new partner or something." Off her look, he continued, "Those are the kinds of things I wouldn't have been able to handle. This, I actually have some experience in."

Mary was still confused, "Experience?"

"Well, yeah, seeing as how I've been in love with my partner for the last seven years." Surprise registered on Mary's face. Marshall smiled. "What, you thought you were the only one?

Mary laughed, a gentle release of fear and tension, "Yea, a little bit." She considered the possibilities, her mind reeling with what _could _be. "So what now?"

Marshall gave her a searching look, assessing her state. "Well that kind of all depends."

She cocked her head to the side, "On what?"

He leaned forward, "On you. I've come to terms with loving you from afar, I can keep doing it, if I have too. The ball is in your court, Mare. I'm not going to push you on this one. It's up to you."

For a moment, Mary couldn't speak. It amazed her how well this man knew her some times, to just hand her control of the situation, even one that affected him just as much as it did her. It was the final push she needed. "I wanna try, Marshall. I want to see if this is the thing we've both been looking for. I'm tired of being afraid, and I don't want to risk missing out on something that could make us both happy."

Marshall nodded, his heart swelling. But before he was willing to answer, he needed to make sure she understood the possible consequences. "You know what could happen, right?" He took a breath, not wanting to scare her off, but needing her to understand the risks. "If it goes badly, we might have to get new partners. Hell, if it goes well, we might have to get new partners. And while I can promise I'll never abandon you, I can't promise that I won't leave." He hoped she got the difference. He would never do to her what her father had done, but they worked a high risk job, and they both knew from personal experience that death was no stranger.

He watched her face as she considered his words. She met his eyes again, "It's funny, I've spent my whole life hoping I didn't inherit the gambling bug from my father, but I'll be damned. Because right now, I'm willing to risk everything on you. There is only one thing in my life that I want less than to lose you, and that is to wake up one morning and realize I never had you."

He read the sincerity in her eye, leaned forward and kissed her. After a few seconds, he pulled back, "You have me, never doubt that you have me."


	2. Chapter 2

Despite the fact that everything had changed between Mary and Marshall, nothing really did. They still spent all their time together and were still each other's best friend. Occasionally, Marshall could now convince Mary to get dressed up and let him take her out to a nice restaurant, but they'd been going to movies, the bowling alley, and bars together for years. They'd also had a home cooked dinner together at least once a week since Marshall had started taking cooking lessons 6 years ago. Between Marshall's newly cultivated skills, and the skills Mary had been forced to acquire growing up, in order to both feed her family and earn money, they were able to switch off each week with the responsibilities. They decided to hold off announcing their new status to the public at first, not wanting to ruin their partnership unduly. They were both fully capable of being professional when on the job. And no one was the wiser. The only real difference was the sex, though Marshall insisted they wait six months before getting into bed, in order to both let her heal and give them a chance to be a couple without rushing things.

Though both entered the relationship fearing that things would not work out, they were happily surprised. Both were amazed to find, that while they pretty much sucked at other relationships, this one came easily to them. There was no point where Mary felt suffocated and, despite her many warnings that she was a horrible girlfriend, Marshall never felt that was the case. Before either of them truly realized it, they were reaching their one year anniversary. While they had continued to keep silent for the most part about their relationship, they'd come clean to Marshall's parents and brothers. Mary had opted out of telling her own family, both to avoid having to hear their commentary and to avoid being outted. But as more and more time passed, both Mary and Marshall wanted to come clean with their friends, people like Stan and Bobby, whom they spent eighty percent of their time with.

The decision was taken out of their hands the week before their one year anniversary. Marshall was out of town, delivering one of WitSecs newest initiates to Kansas City. Mary had been packed and ready to go with him, but Stan had received word that she would be needed in Albuquerque to welcome a new witness of her own. So rather than spending four days out of state, two of them gloriously alone, Mary was forced to watch from the conference room window as Stan bid Marshall farewell. They'd been caught off guard, and didn't even have a chance to say goodbye privately. As Stan turned his back, Marshall blew her a quick kiss, knowing that he'd at least get a smile from her before he left.

Mary could do nothing but watch him go. His cheesy blown kiss did bring a smile to her face, but she couldn't reciprocate with a crude gesture of her own, or even a return kiss, because Stan was facing her. Instead she watched him go with a sinking feeling in her chest. She hated sending him off alone, almost as much as she hated going over the MOU with a girl who looked like she couldn't spell the abbreviation with a cheat sheet. Christie, her new witness, was 107 lbs of air headed bimbo, and at least 3 of those pounds were hairspray.

Mary spent three long days with Christie. The first was spent going over the MOU and explaining to her new witness just how the program worked. The two remaining days were spent moving Christie into her new apartment, helping her find a job, and pretty much being at her beck and call, per the orders from Stan's boss. Between the long days with her witness and Marshall's absence, Mary had gotten very little sleep. On what would be Marshall's third night away, and hopefully his last, Mary caved. Instead of heading home to her own house, she decided to crash at his, hoping that being in Marshall's bed, even without him, would allow her to get even a few hours. She crawled into bed at eleven, and surrounded by Marshall's presence she was asleep in minutes.

She heard the glass break just after three. Being a marshal had taught her to sleep with one eye open at all times. It only took her a moment to come fully awake and register the noise for what it was. Unfortunately, in her haste to actually get some sleep, she'd left her bag, with her hand cuffs and gun in Marshall's foyer. Luckily, on his last birthday, she'd given him a gag gift- fur lined handcuffs. It had been during his imposed six-month waiting period, and she'd been trying to get a reduced sentence. He hadn't cracked, but after that six month mark, he'd more than made up for it. She snuck quietly from the bed and padded softly to Marshall's dresser. She found the cuffs in the back of his sock drawer. His spare weapon, the one he kept in the house at all times was in his office, at the other end of the house, she'd never reach it.

Knowing she'd be better off safe than sorry, she picked up her cell. Rather than dial 911, she hit speed dial 5 and connected directly with the ABQ police department. When the desk sergeant answered, she asked if Detective Dershowitz was on duty. The sergeant affirmed that he was and transferred her over. It rang once before he answered. "Dershowitz here."

Trying not to alert the men in the living room, Mary whispered into the phone, "Bobby, it's me."

He immediately picked up on her tone, "Mary? What's wrong?"

"I need you to send a couple of black and whites my way. I've got at least one, possibly two guys in the living room."

"Somebody broke into your house?" Bobby was already putting on his gun and motioning for the nearest unit to follow him.

Mary corrected him, "No, not my place. I'm at Marshall's." She crept down the hallway as she spoke, needing to see what was going on. She knew that Marshall didn't keep any sensitive information in the house, but he did have quite a few valuable items. His living room wall was covered in book shelves boasting autographed first editions, first release vinyls, an impressive coin collection, and an assortment of semi precious stones and rocks from places he'd visited in his life. In addition to all that, he also had a Fender autographed by Springsteen, several one of a kind pieces of artwork, a collection of autographed sports memorabilia, containing greats like Babe Ruth and Wayne Gretzky, and a cowboy hat worn by the Duke on the set of True Grit. She would hate to have to tell him that someone had taken any of that.

"Mary, wait for back up to arrive. Don't do anything stupid." Bobby tried to insert some steel into his voice, but he knew it was useless.

She smirked despite the situation, "You know me." With that she hung up the phone and slipped from the hallway into the foyer. She slipped her phone into her pocket, along with the handcuffs and pulled out her marshal issued pair and her glock. She stepped silently into the living room, leveled the weapon at the closer of the two men and released the safety. "US marshal, freeze."

The one with the gun pointed at him did as told. She threw him the handcuffs, indicating he should put them on and then moved her line of sight to the other man. He wasn't as smart as his partner. Rather than go quietly, he decided to fight. He grabbed a chair from the dining room table and threw it. Mary was quick enough to dodge it, his partner wasn't. He went down tangled in cuffs and chair. Now panicking, the uncuffed man reached for the nearest shelf, containing Marshall's rocks. He hurled one with each hand. As they flew through the air, Mary took a small amount of girlfriendly pride in the fact that she recognized them as geodes, and then swiftly ducked under them, hoping they wouldn't shatter. She rushed forward hoping to tackle the thief, but hadn't seen the third stone coming. It glanced off her forehead and stunned her for just a moment. But she kept her forward momentum and tackled the man, making sure to throw him down to the side, rather than hit the shelves. She was none too gentle as she wrestled him onto his stomach and clicked the fur lined cuffs into place.

She hauled him up and dragged him into the living room, pushing him onto the couch. She then went and got his friend, depositing him on the couch as well. She took a few steps back, to the other side of the coffee table and sank into the chair. She crossed her legs and placed her gun, in view, on her knee, hand still ready to pull the trigger. "Now, you two are going to sit still and be quiet, or I'm going to get very angry." She threw them each a glare, waiting for them to nod in agreement. Using her free hand, she pulled her cell phone from her pocket. Though she hated to wake him when she had the situation completely under control, she had no delusions about how he would react if she waited till a decent hour to call him. She hit speed dial 2 and held the phone to her ear.

He answered after three rings, sans greeting, "If you're calling me because you can't sleep and you feel as though that means I should suffer as well, I'm hanging up." They had talked every day he'd been gone, he knew she wasn't sleeping well. He didn't mind her calling to have someone to talk to, but he was really hoping that's all it was.

Mary couldn't help the smile that came at hearing his voice. "Sorry, Sleeping Beauty, I was sleeping just fine."

Instantly on alert, Marshall sat up in his hotel bed. "What happened?"

"Somebody broke into your place, actually a couple of somebodies." Mary narrowed her eyes at the two in question. "But I'm sure they're really sorry about it."

Marshall read between the lines quickly, a skill that he had honed as an inspector. "You're at my place? You're staying at my place while I'm out. Does this mean you're ready to move in with me?" He was trying to make her smile, calm her down.

After a year together, he'd gotten very good at it. She let out a small laugh. "You wanna focus on the problem at hand, numbnuts? We can talk about that when you get home, okay? I don't think it's the kind of conversation we should be having in front of the two people who just tried to rob you, "she saw the lights from the patrol car pull up and heard the siren, "or the ABQ PD."

Hearing the sirens, Marshall quickly realized that until that point, his girlfriend had been sitting in his house alone with two criminals. He rolled his eyes at the way her brain worked. "Alright, we'll talk about that later. What's the damage?"

Mary heard the double meaning in his words, he'd revisit the cohabitation thing when he got home, but he'd also try to yell at her for not getting the cops there sooner. "Umm, at least one broken window, and a dining room chair, possibly some dry wall, I haven't had time to inspect it yet, hold on." Keeping her eyes on the two men on the couch, she moved toward the front door and pulled it open, ushering in Bobby and the two uniforms that had accompanied him. "Hey Bobby, I got your guys over there." She gestured to the two men.

Bobby stepped to the side and ushered the two officers in to retrieve the burglars. He then followed toward the scene of destruction. He looked around, taking in the damage. It was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. "I'll start with this, get the pictures and everything."

Mary let out a sigh, "Thanks, I'll be right back." She needed a few moments alone with Marshall before she answered any questions for Bobby. She made her way back down the hall into his bedroom, closing the door for privacy. "Alright, what do I do?"

"What do you mean?" Marshall was trying to follow Mary's brain, but it wasn't an easy task.

"I mean, in about five minutes, Bobby's gonna ask me why I'm here, asleep in your house in the middle of the night and you're nowhere in sight. And later today, Stan's going to want the same answers. People broke into your house, Marshall. We're going to have to treat this as a possible breach until an assessment proves otherwise, which means I have to tell Stan. The question is, how much do I tell him, or Bobby for that matter." This was their chance. While coming up with a cover story wouldn't be hard, this was a golden opportunity to just come clean.

"Yea, I guess you're right. Really, it's up to you." Marshall was tired of hiding his relationship with Mary, he didn't care who knew they were in love, and he knew she didn't either. What they both feared was the possibility of being reassigned.

Mary narrowed her eyes, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "Have you noticed that when it comes to picking the restaurant or the movie, it's all you, but all the actual decisions are left up to me?"

Marshall rolled his own eyes. "We both know you prefer it that way."

Knowing he was right, she let it go. "It's our chance, Marsh. We can get it out in the open. I'm tired of hiding this, I mean we've been together a year. It's this huge part of our lives, and we're hiding it from all of our friends."

"And if Stan insists on separating us?" Marshall didn't want to play devil's advocate, but he wanted to make sure she was positive about this.

"Just because we're not partners anymore, that doesn't change anything, right? We still love each other. If it comes down to a choice, I'd rather _be_ with you, than work with you." Her voice was quiet. She didn't want a new partner, but she would take one if she had to. She held her breath waiting for his response.

"Me too; I love you, Mare, friend, partner, girlfriend, makes no difference. We'll figure it out." He said the words firmly, hoping to quell the fear he knew she was feeling.

"Alright, then," Mary reached up and combed her fingers through her hair, a hiss escaping when she pulled on her cut forehead. "Shit."

The sound of her pain had him on instant alert, "Mare, what happened?" He tried to cover the panic in his voice.

She leaned over his dresser, examining her head. There was a steady stream of blood, but the cut was nothing major. "It's nothing. When I was trying to cuff Bonnie and Clyde, one of them decided to try their hands at being a pitcher."

Marshall waited for further explanation, when none was forthcoming, he spoke, "Umm, what does that mean?"

"It means he used your rock collection to practice his curve ball. I didn't completely dodge one of the geodes. It's just a small cut, won't even need stitches. I'm fine." Mary downplayed the whole thing, not wanting to upset Marshall.

But he knew her to well. He made a mental note to have her pass the phone over to Bobby so he could make sure she was really okay. "Bobby's probably looking for you."

"Crap, I totally forgot, I should go find him." She knew him too well for his secret plan to be much of a secret, but she let him slide. Instead she took a deep breath and prepared herself for what was coming. She and Marshall had spent an amazing year together. And while she knew that that wouldn't end later today when their secret was revealed, she did know that things would never be the same.


	3. Chapter 3

Mary walked back down the hallway and found Bobby and one of the uniforms just finishing up processing the scene. The other officer had loaded the two thieves into the patrol car and taken them back the precinct so that they could begin processing them. By the time Bobby got back with the evidence and the report, they'd be ready for his questions.

When she entered the room, Bobby looked up at her. "That Marshall on the phone?" When she nodded, he continued, "Can I talk to him a minute?"

Mary rolled her eyes. It was like they were on the same wavelength. "One sec," She answered Bobby and then turned her attention back to her boyfriend, "Shockingly, he wants to talk to you. I'm gonna go put on some coffee, it's going to be a long day, I can tell." She passed the phone to him, but couldn't help a parting shot to Bobby, "He's all yours, Florence." She crossed the dining room and disappeared into Marshall's kitchen.

Bobby followed her with his eyes, confused at the name, before putting the phone to his ear, "Hey man, any chance you'd tell me where you are?"

Marshall considered a moment and then answered honestly. "I had to go out of town on a job, I'm in Kansas at the moment. I'll be home later today."

"Alright cool, I'm sure Mary already told you, but the damage isn't too bad. One of the panes was broken in your back door. And somebody threw a chair, not sure who, but my money's on your girl. Looks like some of those pretty rocks you've got on display are pretty heavy, judging by the dents they made in your wall. Nothing some spackle and a sander won't fix, I'm sure. And maybe a steamer to get out the blood, but other than that…I'd say you got off pretty lucky, considering Mary found them." Bobby quickly ran through the list of damages, wanting to make sure Marshall knew what he was coming home to, in case Mary tried to downplay it too much.

But Marshall's mind had stopped working after Bobby'd said the word blood. "Back up a minute, detective, blood? Whose blood is it, exactly?"

Bobby should have known Mary would leave that part out. "Oh, well, that would be your partner's. She's got a nice gash on her forehead, probably from one of your rocks."

Marshall shook his head, he should have known Mary'd been hurt worse than she was letting on. "Can you just do me one favor, Bobby?"

"Yea, sure man. What do you need?"

"Can you just make sure she's alright? You know how she is, if someone's not physically holding her down, she won't bother taking care of herself."

Bobby could hear the worry in the man's voice. His greatest fear was something happening to his partner, and him not being there to stop it. This must be excruciating for Marshall. "I'll make sure she's taken care of."

Marshall thanked him and said goodbye, asking to have Mary back for just a moment. Bobby followed where he'd seen her disappear and wound up in the kitchen. She was dabbing a paper towel to her forehead, trying to mop up some of the blood. As Bobby watched, he could see her hand shake slightly. "Just hang on a minute, I've got to find where she walked off too." He moved the phone from his ear and put it down.

Mary watched his approach warily, knowing exactly what he was going to do. She didn't fight him when he reached for the paper towel. "I'm fine, Bobby. Just a little cut, numbnuts is worried for no reason."

Bobby rolled his eyes, but didn't miss the lack of bite. Mary was exhausted. If she weren't, she would have never let him administer first aid. He decided to test the waters. "Of course he's worried. He's in love with you, and here you are bleeding in his kitchen. And what's worse, he's not here to help you. Poor man is probably going out of his mind right now." He watched her face closely, checking for a reaction. But he didn't get the one he expected.

"I know, but this one is in no way my fault. Stupid out of town assignments, I don't understand why they insist on separating us like this. We're much better together, none of this sideline worrying or sleepless nights." Mary opened and closed her hands slowly, trying to stop the slight tremors from left over adrenaline and too little sleep. She needed to call Stan, but she knew that once she did, it would be the beginning of a whole new kind of drama. So much for getting any sleep tonight.

Seeing the exhaustion on her face and the display of nerves, Bobby decided to let go the fact that she made no denial of Marshall's affections. "Is there anything I can do?"

Mary looked up at him with sincere gratitude, knowing that he meant the offer whole heartedly. "When you interrogate these guys, find out if they were targeting Marshall specifically, and if so why. I'm really hoping that it was just a random break in, but if it wasn't, the sooner I know the better."

Bobby was quick enough on the up take that he understood the need for that information. He nodded. "No problem." He moved the paper towel away from her forehead and looked at the cut. "This isn't too bad, I don't think you need stitches. Maybe a band aid though."

"Thanks, Bobby, I'll take care of it." She gestured toward her phone, where he'd placed it on the counter, "Is Marshall still on the line?"

"Oh, yea, he wanted to say goodbye I guess, make sure you weren't bleeding out." Mary took the phone and turned to rummage through the cabinet for a mug. Before tending to her head, she'd started the coffee pot, needing the caffeine if she was going to have to work tonight, or this morning as it was. She didn't realize that Bobby remained in the room. When she spoke into the phone, her voice was soft, "Marsh?" The few minutes alone in the kitchen had not been good for her over tired, adrenaline high brain. She was starting to worry about what Stan would do and her head was really starting to hurt.

"I'm still here. Are you all right?"

His worry helped restore some of her equilibrium. "I'm fine, just exhausted. And now I have a really long day ahead of me. It'll be okay, right?" She let her mask slide for a moment, needing the reassurance that only her partner could offer. "Whatever Stan says, we'll be okay?"

Marshall's heart broke for his partner, his girlfriend. Even after a year as a couple, and eight as partners, she still feared losing him. He knew that she trusted him to never leave, but she was too cynical to believe in happy ever after, there was too much uncertainty and danger in the world. "Mare, listen to me, there is no one on this planet who is keeping me from being with you, not Stan, not the Attorney General, not anyone. If they insist we can't work together, then we deal. But I'm yours. If Stan splits us up, I fully intend on proposing to you, you got that?"

His sound reassurance that everything would work out, and that he wasn't going anywhere calmed her. She took a deep breath before answering, "Don't you dare, you hear me? I don't want your proposal ruined because bureaucratic BS forced your hand. We both know you've had that ring for too long trying to find the right moment. I swear, if it's not up to my expectations, I fully reserve the right to turn your ass down, understand?"

She listened to Marshall laugh, glad that she was able to sooth him. She knew he was worried about her. "I got it. I guess you got your way, you couldn't sleep and now neither will I."

It was Mary's turn to laugh. "Good, because I'd hate for one of us to have a good night and not the other, where's the fun in that?" She dropped the sarcastic tone as she continued. "But seriously, Marsh, go back to bed. I'm fine. Bobby's gonna put those guys in the box and figure out if this whole mess was random. I'm gonna finish this cup of coffee, shower, and head in to start the assessment. I need you home later today, which means you need to be able to drive. You can't get behind the wheel with no sleep. Lord knows, I wouldn't have even called if I didn't know you'd be furious if I waited for you to get back. Like you said, whatever Stan decides, we'll still have each other. Sleep while you can." She didn't finish the rest of that thought, the part where if they were reassigned, there would be significantly less sleep to be had for both of them.

Marshall heard the unspoken words, and a chill ran down his spine. He hated the thought of trusting the life of the woman he loved to anyone else, regardless of their credentials or skills. He had spent years learning the ins and outs of Mary's mind, and she his, so that they worked together like a seamless machine. No one else was good enough to be her partner. "I'll try, if you promise to keep your head with Stan. He's our friend, Mare, it's not his fault he has to follow protocols every now and then."

"I promise to behave; I know Stan doesn't want us split up any more than we do." She had mellowed out in her time as Marshall's girlfriend. While she was still hot headed and as passionate about her job as when she started, she had infinitely more patience and had learned to think before she spoke, even if only to stop herself from hurting Marshall through blunt words.

"That's my girl. I'll see you in a few hours, I love you."

"I love you, too, Marsh, 'night." She disconnected the phone and turned around, nearly dropping her mug when she saw Bobby standing there, mouth open wide enough to catch flies. She recovered from his presence sooner than he did from her words, "Be careful, detective, or your face might freeze that way." She smiled as he hastily closed his mouth.

"Did I just hear you right? Did you just tell your partner that you loved him?"

For a moment, Mary considered telling him it wasn't his business. But then it occurred to her that the news would be coming out today anyway, she might as well use Bobby as a dry run for Stan. "No, I told my boyfriend that I loved him, big difference." The smile grew as she watched Bobby try to put two and two together.

"But that was Marshall on the phone, you said, 'I love you, too, Marsh, as in short for Marshall." Bobby was watching Mary's face, looking for some hint as to the joke. But as he watched, it became clear that she had been serious in both her declaration of love and her claim on Marshall. "Wait a minute, you and Mann, seriously? When?"

The smile turned into a full on grin. Neither she nor Marshall had many friends outside of the working world, including the ABQ PD, the marshal service, and various other law enforcement/government agencies. That being the case, she hadn't had a chance to tell anyone about the relationship. While normally, that wasn't a problem with her because her relationships never really lasted, this one was different. She wanted people to know she had found happiness, but the ties to their job, and fear of being separated, had kept them from sharing. Bobby would be the first person she got to tell, and likely the only one who would have only genuine happiness to offer. "Since I woke up, so going on a year."

Bobby's surprise turned into a huge smile, "Damn girl, off the market for a year, and I didn't even know. Why the big secret? Do you know how many people have bets on this?"

She let out a small laugh at the prospect of the pool, but then her smile fell, because the secret was out, and a part of her feared the repercussions. "At first, we kept it secret because we weren't sure what would happen, and then because we were just so damn happy, we didn't want to take any crap about it. Plus, it's not exactly department sanctioned, we didn't want to get split up."

Understanding her meaning, Bobby's smile faded, "Your chief doesn't know?" When Mary shook her head, he continued, "You don't think he'd honestly reassign you, do you?"

Mary shrugged her shoulders, "If it were up to him, I think he might let us be. But rules are rules, and this is pretty much against them. We'll know after today what's going to happen."

Bobby nodded his head, trying to imagine Mary partnered with anyone else, or Marshall for that matter. He'd been working with them for over three years, and he'd never known two partners more in sync. They understood each other without speaking and were always able to anticipate the other's next move. On top of that, what Mary lacked in diplomacy, Marshall had in spades, and when he lacked in directness, she never failed to cut out the bull. They were also evenly matched, be it in the practice ring, at the shooting range, or, as he'd seen at several PD fundraisers, on the dance floor. Seeing the worry in her eyes, Bobby stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry about it. You two are great at your jobs, everything will be fine."

She took a moment to compose herself, and then met his gaze, "Thanks, Bobby, I hope you're right."

Sensing that she had a lot on her mind and needed to get to the office, Bobby said his goodbyes, "I'm gonna go make sure that those two idiots get to the precinct. I'll call once I have your info."

"Thanks again, Bobby. I'll be at the office, so if I don't answer my cell, feel free to try me there."

"Will do, oh, and Mary, I expect a full explanation as to how you and Mann ended up together. Damn, I can't believe you hid it all this time."

Mary rolled her eyes, "When are you going to get it, Dershowitz, that's my job." She silently thanked him for his joke, knowing that he was trying to cheer her up.

"You're good, I'll give you that, you are good." He offered her one last smile before heading back out to the living room and out of Marshall's house.

Mary took a minute, savoring the last of her coffee, before picking up her phone once again, this time hitting speed dial 2. "Hey Stan…we might have a problem…I'll see you at the office in an hour." She closed the phone and headed down the hallway to Marshall's room, to shower and dress for work.


	4. Chapter 4

Mary was already sitting at her desk running through suspects when Stan stepped out of the elevator. He looked up at the sound of her typing, surprised to find her there first. "Morning, Mary, what seems to be the situation?"

Not bothering to look away from the screen, she filled him in on what had happened. "Two thugs broke into Marshall's place about two hours ago. When I came into the living room, they were going through his book case. I'm not sure if they were looking for first editions, or information. Bobby's got them at the precinct right now, he said he'd let me know if he found anything out. I'm running suspects, trying to find if there are any connections between these two and any of our major players." She had spent her first twenty minutes compiling lists of Marshall's witnesses, dividing the people looking for them into categories to try and speed up the process. The system was currently running the names of the thugs against any case files linked to the mob.

Stan nodded, impressed with Mary's initiative. While she was one of the best marshal's available, she often left paperwork to her more than willing partner, and very rarely did she get to work so fast without Marshall around to keep her on task. Mary was the kind of woman who needed to be tied to a chair, because her style of operation was much more active. She preferred to do the leg work, where Marshall would do the research. It made them a force to be reckoned with. Sure, they could operate separately, but they were so much more effective together. "Good work, let me know if you get any hits." Stan turned, about to go into his office, ready to make the phone calls that might be needed once Mary had an answer. But then he froze.

Mary had allowed herself a brief moment of hope, thinking Stan might not ask how she had come to be at Marshall's at three in the morning. And then he stopped. She braced herself, taking a deep breath in preparation of the coming conversation.

Spinning on his heel, Stan came back to stand in front of Mary's desk. "Uh, Inspector, just what were you doing at Marshall's house this morning, that you happened to catch these men in the act?"

Inhaling again, to keep her voice steady, Mary met his gaze, "I was sleeping, Stan. That's what most sane people are doing at 3 AM."

"Yes, but why were you sleeping at Marshall's? Don't you have a perfectly good bed of your own?" Stan knew his inspectors well, he could tell that Mary was skirting around something.

She could drag this out for hours, offering just enough with each answer that Marshall might actually be here by the time Stan got the truth out of her. But that wasn't her style. She didn't dance around the issues, she faced life head on, consequences be damned. She just made sure to say a silent prayer that the consequences didn't damn her. "Stan, there's something that I need to tell you, that Marshall and I probably should have told you ages ago. We're seeing each other, have been seeing each other. With him away, I couldn't sleep, I went to his house tonight to try and get some."

Stan was silent for a moment, trying to make sense of what the blonde in front of him had said. "You and Marshall are dating, as in going out on dates, together?"

Mary resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She knew that the leap from partnership to dating was hard for some to comprehend, it had taken her and Marshall seven years to make the switch. She could give her boss a few minutes. "Yea, Stan. Marshall is my boyfriend. I am Marshall's girlfriend. Put us together and we make a couple." She watched Stan go from not comprehending to shocked, and straight through to pissed.

"How long exactly has that been going on? You two can't just screw around, you know. There are rules to this job."

Mary immediately went on the defensive, "We're not screwing around." She stopped herself there, remembering Marshall's words of warning. "We've been together for almost a year Stan, since I got shot. We both know there are rules, but our relationship hasn't gotten in the way of our job in the least. In fact, tonight, it helped us do our job. If this was a direct targeting of a WitSec inspector for information, than my being there potentially saved not only my partner's life, but the lives of his witnesses as well." Mary hoped that Stan would accept that and just let it go, but she had a bad feeling that wouldn't be the case.

"Don't try and sugar coat this, Mary. Dating your partner is in direct violation of rule 12, section A. And you both damn well know that. What is the matter with you? I know that you tend to ignore the rules, but what about your damn partner? He's had the marshal's book memorized since he was 14, what the hell was he thinking? What the hell were either of you thinking? You know what this means, right?" Stan didn't bother trying to reign in his anger, for once not worrying that he was yelling at his usually hot headed inspector with her partner nowhere around to hold her back.

"Yes, Stan, it's against the rules, but it's not like this is some wishy-washy teenage affair. I love him, Stan, and he loves me. And we were thinking that how we felt hadn't stopped us from doing our jobs in the past, so why should it be any different now? A year, Stan, and no one knew. We've never been anything less than professional, in the office or on the road. And we've never let the relationship get in the way of doing the job." Doing her best to channel Marshall, Mary kept her calm as she tried to cool Stan down.

Unfortunately, he was having none of it; "Love? Mary, I don't care if you two are Ozzie and freaking Harriet. It's against the rules, and it ends now."

Her handle on calm completely lost, Mary stood slowly. "What?"

"You heard me, Inspector. Either you end the relationship, or you end the partnership. You can't have it both ways." Stan delivered the ultimatum without really thinking what he was saying. But he saw it the moment his words penetrated Mary's mind.

She pulled in a ragged breath, her biggest fear being realized. She was going to have to choose between marshal Mann, the best partner she'd ever had, and Marshall Mann, the best thing that had ever happened to her. And as a single tear fell, she knew that it wasn't even a decision. "Then I guess you should call Arlington and have them send you over a couple of new marshals."

Stan was stunned. Her words were beginning to catch up with him. Mary and Marshall were in love. And he had just ordered her to choose between being with Marshall or having him as a partner. Though he'd honestly never thought she would choose a new partner, he was even more surprised to find that she hadn't hesitated in the slightest before choosing to stay with Marshall. Now that the words had been said, he couldn't take them back, not that it mattered, because HQ would insist the same anyway. "And you're sure Marshall will answer the same?" He saw anger flash in her eyes. It occurred to him that even if Marshall did, for some ridiculous reason, choose to end the relationship, the partnership would be over anyway.

He took a moment to study his inspector, as she glared at him. Mary was standing, yes, but she was exhausted. He noticed for the first time the butterfly closure on her forehead, and the long cut underneath it. It hadn't occurred to him that she might have been injured while protecting her partner's house. Her shoulders, while squared, were weighed down with both the events of earlier and this conversation. Already on edge from having her partner on the road without her, and from having to deal with a high maintenance new witness, a break in slash security breach was the last thing she needed, except of course having her boss, and supposed friend, throw the most important relationship in her life to the garbage. A year ago, Mary Shannon would have long ago stormed from this office, probably after socking him in the face, a blow he knew he more than deserved. But instead she was standing here willing to take her consequences, however unfair. He knew that the change was attributable to Marshall. He also knew that splitting the two of them up would be the worst decision this agency could ever make. He loved the two of them as if they were family, and had often pictured them getting together. How could he punish them? And yet, he knew that he had no choice but to follow protocols. He would call his superior and file the report, but the whole time he would be batting for them, trying to convince the higher ups that their relationship would not interfere.

He let out a long breath, releasing the anger he had held a moment ago. "Jesus, Mary, you two never can do things the easy way, can you?"

The change in Stan's demeanor calmed Mary as well. She was still mad, but she was no longer contemplating murder. "Nothing worth having is easy to obtain." Marshall had said that to her once, years ago. She had long since known it to be true.

"You know I don't want to split you up, right? You're the best marshals I've got, the best team I've seen in years. If it was up to me…I'll try my hardest to make them let you stay together."

Mary nodded, her anger gone. She'd known it was coming; from the beginning, she and Marshall had both known it was a possibility, a probability. "Just, don't let them transfer one of us. Please, Stan, Albuquerque is the only place I've ever felt at home, and this job has been my life for almost a decade. And if you transfer me, he'll leave the marshal service to stay with me. He can't do that, he's a fifth generation marshal."

"I know, I know. I'll do what I can. Meanwhile, you work on the threat assessment." He watched her fall back into her seat before moving to his office.

She waited until his door had closed before picking up the phone. It was quarter after six, Marshall would be awake and already on the road. While this wasn't a conversation she wanted to have via cell, she desperately needed to hear his voice. She dialed his number and held the phone to her ear.

He answered before the first ring had ended. He had been waiting for it. "How bad was it?" He heard her breath hitch slightly, and knew that it had not gone well. "Mare, it's going to be okay." He kept his voice low, trying to soothe her.

"Stan's calling Arlington right now, to request new partners for both of us. If we're lucky, they'll agree and let us stay in the office. But Stan can't promise that they won't transfer one of us." Mary left out the details of the conversation she and Stan had just had. Marshall didn't need to know. All that really mattered was the outcome, the coming change.

Marshall's eyes closed for a moment, the two of them just couldn't catch a break sometimes. "We knew this was a possibility, it's nothing we weren't prepared for. I told you, I'm not going to let anyone come between us." He knew that he didn't need to say it, Mary knew how he felt. But he also knew that she was probably freaking out at the prospect of so much change.

"I know, Marshall, but this means we won't be partners anymore. It means that when you go out in the field, I'm not the one covering your back. I just, I hate the thought of you having to rely on someone else." Her voice was soft, distant, a million scenarios running through her head, all of them ending with Marshall collapsing on the desert ground, blood seeping into his shirt, a horrible flashback.

Unfortunately, Marshall knew exactly what she was talking about and where her mind was going. In his own mind, he saw doctors pushing a gurney down a hallway, Mary unresponsive, blood seeping from her abdomen. He didn't like the idea of sending her out there with some stranger any more than she did him. "We've had other partners before, we've survived."

It was true, she knew, but that didn't make her like it anymore, "Barely." She forced the joke, knowing that neither one of them wanted to think about new partners. "You should focus on driving; I've got to get back to the threat assessment. I'll see you later tonight."

Marshall knew Mary needed to focus on something else. He let her change the topic. "I'll grab food and meet you at my place?"

"Ok, but just a warning, I didn't really have time to straighten up the mess before I came in." She felt it best to warn him.

"As if you would have if you'd had time," he was teasing her. She was a surprisingly good housekeeper, and an even better cook. But she had a lot on her mind and he wanted to save her what trouble he could. "I'll see you in a few hours. Make sure you have something to eat before I come home, please."

She resisted the eye roll, knowing that he was genuinely worried for her. "I promise. Drive carefully, I'll see you later." She disconnected the call and went back to work.


	5. Chapter 5

Though Stan spent several days on the phone with various people within the marshal service, trying to make a case for allowing Mary and Marshall to stay together, he was overruled. Within the week, two new marshals had been sent to Albuquerque. It was Wednesday morning when they arrived, having come from Virginia on the same flight. Mary was sitting at her desk, back to the door, looking up at Marshall, who was facing her. They had been doing their best to keep each other's spirits up, trying not to think about their new partners.

The ding of the elevator stopped the conversation that Mary and Marshall had been in the middle of having. Mary's eyes went to Marshall's face, but his eyes were locked on the security door. Mary didn't turn around until she heard the unfamiliar voice.

"Good morning, hi, do you think you could buzz us in?" The shorter of the two men spoke, looking at the pair with a hopeful eye.

Before Marshall could respond, Mary stood and stepped around him. She gave both men the once over, assessing them from across the room. Already knowing that there was no way either of these men were capable enough to be partnered with Marshall, or patient enough to be partnered with her, she shrugged her shoulders, "We could." Rather than move to let them in, she walked over to refill her coffee mug.

Marshall couldn't help the smirk. There were times when Mary's lack of tact got them in trouble and made things difficult, but there were also times when she was downright entertaining. However, despite the smirk, he crossed the office, sticking his head in to alert Stan as he went, and opened the door for the two new marshals. "Welcome to Albuquerque, gentlemen. Please come in."

The two men walked to the center of the room where Stan was waiting, standing just outside his office door. Mary came to stand reluctantly on his left, facing the newcomers, who stood on his right. Marshall joined his partner. "Hello men, my name is Stan McQueen, I'm in charge here. This here is Mary Shannon, and this is Marshall Mann." He held his hand out to shake their hands, and then gestured to his marshals as he introduced them. Marshall willingly held out his hand, and after an elbow from her boyfriend, Mary did the same.

The shorter man reached for Stan's hand first, shaking it briefly before moving to Marshall, "My name is Teddy Daniels." Teddy was lean, with short, blond hair, and a goatee. Though he proudly displayed his marshal badge at his hip, Mary would have cast him as an airline pilot or a limo driver, not a law enforcement officer. Unfortunately, he looked like Brandi could take him in a fight.

The other man was taller than Teddy and Stan, but shorter than Marshall. He had a handsome face and a crisp suit. He had wavy brown hair slightly longer than Marshall's. The sunglasses in his hand and the tie around his neck both screamed money. He filled out his suit perfectly, which allowed Mary to get a hint of his build. She reckoned that he could take care of himself in a fight, but wouldn't believe it till she'd had a few rounds with him in the ring. When he held out his hand, he went right for Mary's, looking her up and down as he did, "Name's John Royce, little lady, sure is fine to meet you."

Marshall tried to hide the snigger, ignoring the obvious leering, knowing that Mary would be more of a deterrent for future ogling, but Mary made no attempt to cover her displeasure at being addressed as such. She applied pressure to the hand she was still holding. "Listen, Royce, unless you want to be singing soprano for the rest of your days, I suggest you knock the 'little lady' crap off. Got it, _Jack_ass." She didn't bother to shake Teddy's hand, already fed up with the new arrivals. She turned and walked away, headed into the conference room.

As John and Teddy watched Mary huff away, and Marshall simply stood there smiling, Stan shook his head. Pointing to the two empty desks that had been delivered earlier in the week, Stan ushered the men further into the office. "Don't mind Inspector Shannon, she's not good with new people."

"She's not good with any people, actually, she prefers guns." Marshall offered helpfully, earning a glare from Stan which he simply shrugged off. He did his time earning his bones from Mary, it was the new guys' turn now. Neither he nor Mary would accept them till they'd proven themselves. That was the way the service worked. When you're life was in someone else's hands, you needed to know they were at least as capable as you.

It was Royce who responded. "Well, then, I'll have to show her mine. I love a woman who knows how to handle a man's weapon."

He was smart enough to keep his volume down, so that only Marshall heard the remark. Marshall held out a hand to stop the man's progress, letting Stan and Teddy continue toward the coffee pot and the new desks. "You're new here, so I'm gonna let that one slide. But consider this your first and only warning. She's off limits. Don't hit on her, don't leer at her, and if you want to keep your balls, I suggest you make that the last innuendo you ever utter about her." He and Mary had decided not to advertise their relationship to the newcomers right away, but there was no way Marshall was gonna sit back and listen to some ass disrespect her.

Royce looked the tall marshal up and down, underestimating Marshall as many an opponent had before. "Look, cowboy, she's not my partner, which makes her fair game. Don't think for a second your chivalrous nature's gonna stop me from tapping that." He reached forward and patted his hand twice on Marshall's chest.

The reaction was pure instinct. He grabbed Royce's hand and twisted, bringing the new inspector to his knees. Luckily, Stan and Teddy had moved into the conference room to talk to Mary. There was no one to see Marshall's actions. "It's not my chivalrous nature you should be worried about. It's the glock she carries, and knows full well how to use. And if that doesn't scare you consider this, we may not be partners anymore, but that woman in there is my best friend. You so much as look at her in a way she doesn't appreciate, and you'll have my glock to be worried about as well." Marshall released the other man's arm and stepped back, letting him stand, "Understood?"

Royce narrowed his eyes, rubbing his wrist. "I got it. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Marshall let him walk away, watching as he made his way into the conference room. Stan had set up a number of files for the new agents to look over. Today would be all about familiarizing the two new partners with some of Marshall and Mary's older cases. They wouldn't be assigned their own witnesses for at least three months, giving them a chance to get settled in and giving Mary and Marshall a chance to become comfortable with them. Until then, they would be acting merely as back up, taking on the roll Marshall usually played when dealing with Mary's witnesses, and Mary's roll when dealing with one of Marshall's.

Marshall knew that almost breaking his new partner's wrist had been a mistake, but there was no way he was going to let that guy talk about 'tapping' his girlfriend. And while he knew firsthand how amazingly beautiful she was, he didn't take kindly to other men ogling her, especially with him standing right there. Now that the message had been delivered loud and clear, they'd be able to put it behind them and move on. Of course, there was always the chance that Royce ignored his warning and said something like that directly to Mary's face. In which case, Marshall wouldn't have to worry about anything, because Mary would strangle him with his own tongue.

As if thoughts of her were like a beacon, Mary stuck her head out of the conference room. "Are you gonna stand out there and daydream all day, princess, or are you going to join the rest of the class. Some of us would like to get out of here before the sun goes down."

Marshall smiled. "Coming, darling," his words dripped sarcasm. But he picked his mug up off of her desk and made his way into the conference room.


	6. Chapter 6

Mary waited till the weekend to issue the challenge. It was Friday afternoon, around three o'clock. For two days, they'd been stuck in the office. According to protocol, the new men weren't allowed in the field just yet. That meant that any field trips to see witnesses were made solo, which neither Mary nor Marshall were pleased about. Starting Monday, Teddy and Royce would be official and they'd be permitted in the field. Before that happened, Mary and Marshall both needed to make sure they could handle it.

Marshall sat at his own desk, filling out his 240, Mary had already finished hers. Royce was pouring himself a cup of coffee, hovering by Teddy's desk, talking about who knows what. Because they were 'in training', so to speak, they'd be stuck in the office till 6. Mary stepped up to the two of them. It was the first time she'd actively engaged in conversation with them since they'd arrived. She'd given them the cold shoulder out of protest, but knew that after tonight, Teddy would be her partner, whom she needed to be able to trust with her life. And Royce would be Marshall's, whom she needed to trust with his life; Hence, the challenge. She held out her hands, a business card in each, toward the two men, "Here. Tomorrow, noon, be there."

Both men took the cards, somewhat surprised to be hearing Mary's voice. Royce looked down at the 3.5 x 2 piece of paper. "Where exactly are we going?"

"We're going to see if you're as good as you think you are." Royce had spent the last two days bragging not only about his prowess in the bedroom, but in the ring and on the range as well. Mary was sure his skills were over exaggerated in all three arenas.

A devilish glint sparked in his eye, and he took a step toward Mary, invading her comfort zone. "Oh, I promise you, sweetheart, I am every bit as good as I said." He hadn't taken Mary's initial comment, or Marshall's warning, the day he'd arrived to heart, though he made sure his new partner was nowhere in earshot whenever hitting on Mary. Mary knew that Marshall had warned him, but rather than tell her boyfriend about the jackass's continued advances, she'd decided to wait until Saturday. She had no worries about being able to drop this sleaze in the ring. Maybe after she kicked his ass, he'd stop staring at hers.

She resisted the urge to smack him, and simply smiled. "Well then, this should be interesting." Without giving him a chance to say anything further, she turned and walked away.

She grabbed her bag off of her desk, and stuck her head into Stan's office. "Hey, Stan, Marshall and I are headed out. Our 240s are in our outboxes. See you Monday." Stan, who was on the phone, simply waved goodbye.

She moved out of Stan's office and toward the door, where Marshall was already standing, holding it open for her. She threw him a smile as she walked through and pushed the button for the elevator. They stepped inside and when the doors closed, Marshall reached over and took hold of her hand. "They're not so bad, right?"

Mary rolled her eyes, looking over toward her partner. "Teddy looks like he should be carrying a piece of chalk and an apple, not a badge and gun. And Royce's head is so inflated, I'm not even sure how he makes it in the damn building. I don't like them."

Marshall chuckled. "Do you remember what you thought about me, when we first met?"

She did, that day stuck in her mind like it was yesterday. That was the day everything had changed for her. Marshall had given her so much, a new job, a new home, a new life, and he'd been the first person to earn either her trust or her respect, and eventually her love. Of course, she hadn't known that at the time. "I thought you were a geeky mama's boy who couldn't shoot a gun to save his life, and that being a WitSec inspector meant you couldn't hack it in the real marshal service."

He gave her hand a squeeze, "And what have you learned since then?"

"That I was only half wrong." She threw him a smirk. "You are a geeky mama's boy. But you can shoot, and WitSec is just as hard as the FTF, harder actually because we're trying to keep our people alive, not arrest them."

"See what I mean, maybe Teddy and Royce are more than they seem. Royce was a member of the JPATS team for five years, he can't be that soft. And Teddy has been with IOD for a decade. They're not wet behind the ears." Marshall and Mary had both pulled the profiles on their former partner's new partner. Neither cared so much about their own safety, so much they did about the other. Royce had been a college baseball star and had briefly considered joining the majors. He'd decided instead to go into law enforcement. He'd been a beat cop in Virginia where he'd lived all his life, until deciding that the marshal service offered more opportunity. He'd joined the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transport System, where he'd stayed for five years, before taking this transfer. Teddy had joined the marshal service right out of school, where he'd earned two degrees, one in criminal justice, the other in computer forensics. He'd been on the fast track through the Investigative Operations Division, but had decided for a change of pace. For all intents and purposes, the two replacement marshals were very similar to those they'd be replacing. But that didn't make the change any easier.

As the elevator doors opened, Mary conceded. "I know, there's a good chance we'll get to the training facility tomorrow and be quite impressed with both of them, but until that happens, I reserve the right to think this whole situation blows."

"Fair enough. So what's tonight's plan? Or are you going home so you're well rested for tomorrow?" Marshall threw her a lecherous wink, knowing that that wasn't the case.

"Please, I'm pretty sure I could have taken both of them on a year ago and still wiped the floor with their sorry asses. Besides, tonight is special." A year ago, today, she had woken up from her coma, after being shot.

Because they were in the parking structure, and because he had parked against the wall, Marshall took this opportunity to pull her in close, hidden as they were by his SUV. "Is that right? What pray tell is so special about tonight?" He leaned in and kissed her, his hands moving to rest on her hips. When they'd first started dating, Mary had warned him she wasn't big on anniversaries or Valentine's Day. But that didn't mean he hadn't managed to make sure she knew he was keeping count.

She pushed him away after a moment, not wanting to let him win, "Who are you trying to fool? You and I both know you've had reservations at Bien Shur for weeks."

Marshall pulled back from where he'd been placing soft kisses on her neck. "You knew about them?" Though he tried to never under estimate his gorgeous better half, she still managed to surprise him.

She smiled at the look on his face. She leaned in and kissed him, so happy to have this man in her life. "Of course I knew. It's my job to know these things. What kind of inspector would I be if I didn't?" She pulled him closer, so that her back was against the car and his body was pressed against hers. They didn't often risk public displays of affection, but after two days of barely speaking in the office, despite being mere feet apart, she missed him. Not to mention having to make solo runs to visit witnesses. It wasn't something she was going to get used to easily. Hopefully after this weekend, Teddy and Royce wouldn't need any more hand holding and things could get back to some semblance of normal. At least, maybe they'd be able to have a conversation in the office, rather than spending their time going through files.

Marshall pulled back this time. They had come to work separately this morning, because Mary had needed to stop by one of her witnesses to check some paperwork. "So, I'll pick you up in an hour?"

Mary nodded, unable to speak just then. She took a deep breath to steady herself, and then released her hold on Marshall so he could step back. "Ok, I'll see you then." Marshall watched her walk away and slide into the driver's side of her car. When she had pulled out of her parking spot, he followed suit.

He'd had this night planned for weeks, He knew she didn't want the new situation at work to be the catalyst for his proposal, but that wasn't going to stop him. He had been set on popping the question long before she spilled the beans. He arrived home and showered quickly, anxious about how the evening would play. She knew he had a ring and was planning to ask, but that didn't mean she knew it was coming tonight, or even that she planned on accepting. Not that he would let that stop him. She'd already told him she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, otherwise she never would have allowed Stan to assign them new partners. But just because she'd said so, didn't mean she'd take his ring.

He straightened his tie, looking in the mirror. It was pale blue, with darker blue diagonal stripes. It went well with his crisp black suit. He picked the ring box up off the dresser, opening it to look one last time at the ring he'd picked out. It was a set, the wedding ring a simple silver band that fit perfect under the engagement ring. But it was that part that had sold him. He hadn't known when he first went out what would be the perfect ring, but when he'd seen this one, he'd been sure. The claddagh was a beautiful symbol, promising not only love but friendship and loyalty as well. In his mind, nothing represented the relationship they'd had more. The heart of the design was a 3 carat diamond, polished smooth so that the ring wasn't a hindrance. She'd be able to wear it without worrying about getting it caught on anything, like her gun. He closed the box and slid it into his jacket pocket.

He hopped in the SUV and headed to Mary's by way of the florist to pick up the single red rose he was going to give her. When he got to her house, he didn't bother knocking; he knew she'd left the door unlocked. He walked in, calling out his presence. "Mare, you're knight in shining armor awaits."

He heard her footsteps coming from the hallway. Her voice entered before she did. "You better not be wearing armor, we'll clash." And then she stepped into the room. For a second, Marshall forgot how to breathe. Her dress was gray and fell just above the knees. It was strapless and had a black studded belt around her waist. His gaze roamed her body, stopping for a moment on the four inch heels she was wearing. She was almost as tall as he was. Her hair was straight, and parted to the side. She looked stunning. When he'd recovered, he stepped forward and pulled her flush against him.

"How bout we forget dinner and just stay in tonight?"

Mary almost melted from the heat in Marshall's gaze. "No way, you made me get all dressed up, we're going." Marshall leaned in and placed feather light kisses at each corner of her mouth. "Nice try, Romeo, but we're still going."

She felt Marshall smirk from where he'd placed his head next to her ear. "Alright, but I take no responsibility for my actions form this point on. If they throw us out because I can't keep my hands off you, it's not my fault." To make his point, he slowly ran his hand down her side, leaving a trail of heat through the material of her dress. He then took a step back and held out the rose, assuring her that he would in fact be a perfect gentleman this evening.

Mary couldn't help the blush that colored her cheeks as she took the rose, never in her life had she been the type to go all mushy when a man tried to be romantic. But it was different with Marshall. She brought the rose to her face and inhaled, breathing in the flower's fragrance. When she looked up again, Marshall was holding his hand out for her, she reached forward with her free hand and took it, letting him guide her toward the door. She grabbed her clutch on the way out and made sure to close the door.

Dinner was perfect. They had seats right next to the west facing window, and so had a beautiful view of the setting sun. Marshall didn't bother ordering wine, as he knew Mary wasn't that fond of it, nor did he try and coax her into drinking champagne, which she hated. They simply enjoyed the meal, the atmosphere, and each other. When the main course was finished, and dessert ordered, Marshall reached across the table and entwined his fingers with Mary's. He was treated with a smile.

"Mare, the day I met you, I swore I'd go insane if we had to spend three days together on the job. Now, I can't even imagine going three days without hearing your voice. We've been together for eight years, and there is no one on this planet who knows me as well as you do. Just like there's not a soul who can claim to be so well versed on you as I. For eight years, you've had my loyalty as a partner, the promise that I would do anything to protect you on the job and off. For eight years, you've had my friendship, the guarantee that I would be there for you, no matter what you needed. And for eight years, you've had my heart, whether you've known it or not, the pledge that no matter what happens, I could not possibly abandon you. I know that you're scared, but I have never been more sure of anything in my life." He reached forward with his other hand and placed the ring box beside their clutched hands, open for her to see.

A tear made its way down her cheek, and she took a moment to thank God she'd remembered to use the waterproof mascara. Then she shook her head. "You're wrong, Marshall. I'm not scared, not of this, and never of you." She squeezed his hand.

Marshall took that as an invitation to continue and before she could stop him, he stood and moved around the table, kneeling in front of her. "Mary Shannon, will you marry me?"

Eyes sparkling, Mary nodded her head; "Yes, Marsh, yes." He stood up, pulling her to her feet as well. He wrapped his arms around her and brought his lips crashing to hers.

For a moment he'd been afraid she'd say no, unwilling to commit so fully. It was one thing to promise to stay with someone; it was another to literally attach yourself to them. But she'd said yes, and that was all that mattered. He moved his lips to her ear, pulling her close in a hug. "I love you, Mare."

"I love you, too, Marshall." She too had wrapped her arms around him. When the applause broke through their touching moment, Mary pulled back slightly. The other guests in the dining room were all smiling and clapping for them. Mary felt her cheeks redden. She looked up at Marshall for some kind of clue as to what to do next.

Marshall too was slightly embarrassed. He hadn't expected to become the center of attention. He kept a strong arm around Mary's waist and turned to the watching diners; "Thank you, everyone, sorry to interrupt." He helped Mary back into her seat and then took his own. "Well, so much for low profile."

Mary smiled. "I think we're allowed a little attention right now. Besides, it's not like we're ever gonna see anyone here again." Marshall nodded his agreement.

They stayed at the restaurant for another half hour, enjoying their dessert. They then left and returned to Marshall's. He had long since straightened up the living room from the break in, which had been deemed completely random. One of the robbers had worked at the post office and had taken note of the packages Marshall received. He'd mentioned them to his friend, who had a penchant for theft, and the two of them had decided to see what they could get.

Not that Mary and Marshall wasted much time in the living room that night. Upon entering the house, the couple went directly to the bedroom, eager to celebrate their engagement.


	7. Chapter 7

Despite their late night, both Mary and Marshall were up by nine. They took turns showering and Marshall made breakfast. They both dressed for training. The marshal service had a fitness center and firing range set up on the outskirts of the city. They were meeting Teddy and Royce there at noon to test their skills. Both marshals grabbed their gym bags and their weapons and headed out the door at eleven, hoping for a few moments at the gym alone to warm up.

The drive over only took twenty minutes, and it being a Saturday afternoon, few other cars were in the lot. Marshall and Mary headed right for the sparring ring. Dropping their bags by the bench, they quickly got ready. Mary discarded her sweatshirt and slipped off her ring, before quickly wrapping her hands and putting on her helmet. While Marshall wrapped his own, she stretched. The two of them would only be warming up today, but they often went into the ring against each other.

Mary took the far side, and waited for Marshall to step into the circle. She threw him an assessing look and waited for him to nod his readiness. When he did, she immediately dropped into a fighter's stance, as did he. Both hands were brought up and they went up on the balls of their feet. Mary, always full of energy, immediately began bouncing to relieve some of it. Knowing that Marshall hated to throw the first punch, she did it for him. Her right jab didn't land, as she'd known it wouldn't. Marshall was quick on his feet. He sidestepped to the left and grabbed her arm as it moved passed where his head had been. Using her forward momentum, he spun her into his arms. For a second he had her trapped within his embrace, but she didn't like being caged. She brought her right foot down on his and pried his arms open, quickly ducking out of his grasp.

He let her go. Instead, he leveled two quick punches, both of which she dodged. She brought her left leg up, but he deflected the blow. They circled each other for a few moments, catching their breath and looking for weak spots. Of course, after eight years, they already knew exactly where to hit, but they approached every round as if they were facing a new opponent. Marshall came in this time, feinting with a left uppercut and then landing a blow with his right. Mary staggered back but recovered quickly, landing a left hook to Marshall's head. She heard his soft chuckle. Letting the laugh fuel her fists, she pressed her advantage, bringing her left knee up and following that with a lightning fast combination of punches.

Marshall was able to block some but not all of her blows. He should have known better than to laugh. It meant she sure as hell wasn't going to let him off easy. Normally, he took sparring with his partner seriously, truly in awe of her skill. But instead of focusing on the fight, Marshall had been thinking about the ring that had been on that hand up until about twenty minutes ago. Because he'd let his guard down, he'd gotten hit, and that had caused the laugh. Now, rather than just a warm up session, this had turned into a match to the death, or at least, the pin. And he already knew who would be the one on the ground. Of course, that didn't mean he intended to make it easy for her.

Following her example, he swung his leg up, hoping to catch her in the side. She anticipated his move and ducked under his strike, landing two swift hits to his side. He spun quickly to keep her in front of him. When she threw her next punch, he once again grabbed her arm, twisting it and bringing her in close. Prepared for the move, she maneuvered herself into position and used his height against him, flipping him over her shoulder and onto the ground. His breath left in a huff and he laid on his back looking up at her. She had a huge smirk on her face. "Was it good for you too, cupcake?"

Knowing he'd probably regret it, he swiped his foot around, taking both her legs out from under her. She landed on the ground next to him. "Yea, actually it was."

She let out a groan. "I am going to kill you, doofus." She leveled a punch at his thigh. He didn't bother trying to avoid the blow. Knowing the threat was empty, Marshall pulled himself to his feet and extended a hand to help her up as well. She accepted the aid and let Marshall pull her up. They both left the mat, removing their helmets as they went. Marshall moved to the men's locker room, Mary simply went to the bench.

Mary had just picked up her water bottle when she heard a voice from the far door. "Well, well, well, this has all kinds of potential." There was no mistaking the double meaning in Royce's words. And Mary didn't need to turn around to know that the man was appreciating the view of her in her workout clothes.

She rolled her eyes and turned to face the newcomer. "Yea, well, until you prove yourself on the range, you can forget about proving yourself in the ring." She took a sip from her water bottle.

Royce crossed the room, Teddy a few steps behind. "Like I told you yesterday, babe, I'll prove myself to you anywhere you want."

As Marshall joined them, Mary quickly unwrapped her hands, pulled on her sweatshirt, and grabbed her gun. "Then let's go, the range is this way." She led the three men down the hallway to the shooting gallery. All four of them lined up, set the targets at the same distance, and opened fire. They went four rounds, three at medium distance, both hands separately, and once for speed, and then a fourth round at long distance. Afterward they compared scores.

Marshall and Mary, partnered as long as they had been, knew each other's weaknesses. Mary was damn near perfect at medium range, right handed and with speed. Marshall was almost as good right handed, but beat her with his left, barely though. At long distance, Mary was faster, but Marshall was more accurate. Mary could disable a far away target, but Marshall could kill him. Much to Mary's chagrin, Royce was a damn good shot. He tied her on speed, and scored just under using his right. He beat her with his left, though still scored under Marshall. He wasn't as accurate as Mary on the long range, but he was equally as competent. Teddy's left hand was his dominant hand, so he wiped the floor with all three of them, but scored under them all with his right. His long range targeting left something to be desired. His speed was closer to Marshall's but his accuracy was below Mary's.

Mary turned to Royce, "So you don't totally suck, lucky you."

Royce waited till Marshall and Teddy returned to Teddy's stall, where Marshall was giving him a few tips on his stance. Then he leaned in closer to the blonde marshal, "I'd be luckier if you did." He reached forward and rubbed his hand down her arm.

Mary wished for a second that she hadn't left her gun in her shooting stall. But then the idea of wiping that smirk off his face using her fists seemed so much more pleasing. She leaned in closer as well, "Meet me in the ring, now."

Before he could say anything, Mary walked away. She paused outside Teddy's box, and threw Marshall a look, "Let's go." Even if he hadn't been with her as long as he had, he knew better than to disobey. He promised Teddy they'd come back, but insisted that whatever was about to happen was much more important.

"Who knows, you might get to see a wild animal maul an idiot up close and personal," Marshall quickened his pace to catch up to his fiancé. When he was next to her, he whispered, "Should I be worried?"

Mary didn't even look at him. "Just a warning, if you try to stop me before he's learned a lesson, you better be prepared to take his place." It had been two long days of sexist comments and subtle innuendos whenever Marshall's back was turned. She'd held her tongue this long because she hadn't wanted to make trouble for Stan, but that particular proposition was crossing a line.

Marshall could tell by the tone in her voice that Mary was serious. He wondered briefly what Royce could have said to piss her off quite so much, but then remembered the man's comments the day he'd arrived. Though Marshall hadn't heard him say anything else of the sort since nearly breaking his wrist, it was possible that the man had continued to view Mary as a conquest. If that was the case, he deserved whatever was coming to him.

When they entered the sparring room, Royce was already wrapping his hands. Without a word, Mary moved to her pile of things and began to rewrap her own. For a moment, Marshall worried that Mary was rushing into this, worried for a second that Royce might be able to take her. But then he saw the glint in her eye. She was pissed, and she needed to knock some sense into this idiot. Once she did, everything would be fine. Royce needed to be put in his place, but they'd be able to get along just fine afterward.

She moved quickly, snapping her helmet into place. She stepped into the ring, waiting for Royce to join her. Marshall and Teddy took seats on the sidelines, Teddy leaned into Marshall, "Are you sure this is such a good idea, what if he hurts her?"

Marshall didn't take his eyes off Mary, "Trust me, Teddy, she's not the one you should be worried about."

Teddy didn't have time to respond. The moment that Royce stepped into the ring, Mary was on him. She threw several punches in quick succession, each one landing. Royce staggered back from the unexpected onslaught. He kept his distance for a moment, trying to recover. When Mary lunged again, Royce dodged out of the way. He launched his own jab and Mary ducked under it, landing two hits to his chest. She reached up grabbed his head and brought her knee up. Again Royce staggered back. Mary followed this time.

She launched punch after punch, Royce was able to deflect some of them, but she was too fast. After a particularly hard hit to the side of his head, Mary dropped to a crouch and swept her leg under Royce, bringing him to the mat. She stood back up and leaned down to taunt him, "Come on, John boy, I thought you were going to prove what a man you were. You just got your ass kicked by a girl."

The taunt pissed Royce off. His hand shot out and wrapped around Mary's throat. He jumped to his feet, holding tight as she backed up. She brought her elbow up and brought it down hard on Royce's forearm, breaking his hold on her. She could practically feel the rage pouring off Marshall, but she'd already warned him to stay out of this. She threw her left hand out, landing another blow to Royce's headgear. He returned the favor, throwing two quick jabs with his right and a hook with his left. She dodged the jabs, but the hook landed. It threw her temporarily off balance. He took her moment of weakness as an opportunity

He grabbed her right wrist and twisted, wrenching it up behind her back. He wrapped his other arm around her neck, placing his mouth next to her ear, "Come on, sweetheart, we were just getting started." Mary threw her head back at the same time she reached her free hand up to pry his arm loose. She spun around, freeing her other hand. She grabbed Royce by the shoulders and brought her knee up, a solid connection to his sternum. She then swung her elbow and connected with Royce's headgear. Her palm rammed into his chin.

She grabbed his right wrist and twisted, using the same move he'd pulled a moment ago. When she was behind him, she knocked the back of his knee with her own, bringing him to the ground once again. This time she when she leaned in, she dug her knee into his back. "You ever even think about making a pass at me again, I'll make you cry. Understood?"

Royce grunted. When Mary didn't relieve the pressure, he spoke, "I got it, you're off limits."

Mary released the pressure and stood, unbuckling her helmet as she exited the ring. "Glad we could work that out. We should work together just fine from now on."

She stepped up next to Marshall, who held out a towel for her. "Anything I should know about?"

Mary smiled her best 'there's nothing going on here' smile, "If there was something going on, don't you think I'd tell you?"

"Not a chance," Marshall smirked.

Royce followed Mary out of the ring. He, too, had removed his headgear. "Listen, Mary, I'm sorry for the way I acted. I promise, from now on, I'll be nothing short of professional."

Mary turned around, the smile still on her face. Royce had proven himself on the range, and he'd put up quite a fight in the ring, he wasn't all bad. Mary would prefer to be the one watching Marshall's back, but given the current circumstances, she was willing to trust that Royce was almost as good. "That's good to know. But for the record, I don't mind it half as much as I know my fiancé would."

Royce seemed stunned at that, he turned to Marshall and Teddy, both men wearing similar looks of shock. Teddy hadn't known about the engagement, Marshall hadn't expected her to bring it up. "Your fiancé?"

"Yea, pretty girl like me, didn't you think I had someone special?" Though she had her eyes on Royce, she watched Marshall for a reaction as well. Sometimes she enjoyed toying with him. "Now, who's up next?"

Marshall laughed. "Come on, Teddy, we're up."


	8. Chapter 8

It took less than three weeks for everything to go wrong. Though neither Mary nor Marshall were happy with the new arrangement, they were willing to give it a shot. They both figured maybe if they played well for a little while, they might be allowed to partner up again. And after the display at the training complex, all parties were satisfied that their partners would do.

After that first week, Mary had begun taking Teddy when she went to see her witnesses; introducing him to them and helping him get a feel for the job. Marshall was doing the same thing with Royce. Though they no longer were partners, Marshall and Mary still ate lunch together, sometimes inviting one or both of the other guys to join them. Because he knew her witnesses almost as well as she did, Marshall would often surprise Mary by filling out her paperwork for her. She would return the favor by super gluing things to his desk. Though they were technically no longer partners, they still acted the same way toward each other. On mornings they didn't come to work together, Marshall would get her coffee and when they needed something, even work related, they called the other.

Teddy and Royce had been in Albuquerque for exactly 20 days when the alert went up on Whitney Cole, nee Myers. She'd been in the program for seven months. Mary had thought she'd do well. She had been working as a secretary for a man she believed was a banker. It turns out he was actually a don in the Italian mafia. Once she realized that some of the errands she had run had led to the deaths of 5 people, she called the FBI. She had no living family, her parents had been dead for years and she was an only child. The only person she'd even mentioned since coming into the program was her best friend.

Whitney slipped. She made one phone call, didn't even speak, just listened long enough to hear her best friend say hello. Afraid that she could put both of them in danger, she'd hung up. But that had been enough. The man she'd been working for had friends monitoring the line. Two days after the aborted phone call, the mafia was in Albuquerque. But Marshall wasn't.

One of Marshall's witnesses had needed to be in court in Florida. Marshall and Royce had flown out on Sunday evening. Mary didn't expect him back till Wednesday.

When the computer flashed the alert, saying that Joey Figs and Tony 'Knuckles' Falcone had just landed at the Sunport, she didn't have a minute to call him either. "Stan, I've got to go. I've got two Italian hitmen just landed here. I've got to get to Whitney's house now. Come on, Teddy, we're on."

She grabbed her badge and her gun and was out the door. Teddy froze. It took Stan coming out of the office and yelling at him to follow her to get the younger man moving. He barely made it into the elevator before the doors closed. Mary moved toward one of the official SUVs, complete with bullet resistant glass and lead door paneling rather than her own car. Needing to get a hold of Whitney, she pointed Teddy to the driver seat. She quickly programmed the GPS for him so that she could focus on the call.

"Whitney, it's Mary. I need you to go into the bathroom. Stay there until I come get you, okay. I'm on my way. Just stay down." She hung up the phone and looked over at Teddy, "Step on it, Daniels, this is an emergency."

When Teddy pulled up in front of Whitney's house, Mary was out of the car before he'd put it in park, "Keep the engine running, I'll be back in one minute." She ran inside, gun drawn, searching for signs of foul play. Seeing that the door was locked and no traces of a break in, she cautiously called for Whitney. "Whitney, it's Mary, come out, we've gotta go."

Whitney cautiously peaked her head out of the bathroom, "Mary? Is this because I called Lizz? I'm sorry, I just…" Mary saw the tears building in Whitney's eyes. She moved quickly to her side.

"It doesn't matter right now, okay, we've got to get out of here. Let's go. I promise, we'll figure this out."

Mary peered into the yard before allowing Whitney to leave the house. She looked toward Teddy, checking for the all clear. But Teddy was not looking for threats. He had his eyes anxiously glued on the door Mary had disappeared through. She let out a harsh breath, "I'm gonna kill him." Hoping that there was no one hiding in her blind spots, she took one more quick scope of the yard, wrapped her arm around Whitney and ran for the car.

Teddy had pulled into the driveway, so Mary's dash had her angling for the rear door on his side. When she reached the car, she pulled the handle, but nothing happened. She stared at in confusion for a moment. Then her brain kicked in and she began pulling at it. "Damn it, Teddy, unlock the door, hurry the hell up."

She watched through the window as Teddy fumbled for the unlock button. And then she heard shots. The first hit the door just to the right of her shoulder. The second and third hit her. Not having had time to put on a vest, her body erupted in pain. She pulled Whitney closer, shielding her young witness. Teddy finally hit the button, unlocking the door. Mary grunted in pain, reached for the door and shoved Whitney inside. She hopped in behind her, trying to ignore the pain and the blood steadily flowing down her right arm and back. The shooter got off two more shots before Mary closed the door. One went wide just grazing Whitney's arm, Mary felt the fifth hit, but there was so much pain at that point, she couldn't tell where it landed.

"Drive, Daniels, get us the hell out of here." Mary tried to fight off the blackness that was encroaching on her sight. She felt lightheaded and was having trouble focusing, but knew she had to keep it together. She reached for her cell. "Stan, I need you to meet us at UNMH, I'm gonna need backup there."

"Mary, what happened, are you all right?" Stan was on his feet, already moving out the door.

"We didn't get there fast enough. Whitney's hit, but it doesn't look too bad." Mary's voice was getting weaker. Whitney saw that Mary was bleeding. She took the phone.

"Mr. McQueen, this is Whitney. Mary was shot, she's bleeding. There's blood everywhere. Oh my God, what do I do?" Whitney moved the phone to her shoulder and tried to get Mary to focus. "Mary, Mary, I need you to look at me, please.

Hearing the young woman plead with his inspector, Stan cursed himself. He didn't think he could go through this again, watching Mary lie in a hospital bed while a ventilator kept her breathing. "Whitney, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, a little cut is all. Mary protected me. The bullets hit her."

Stan let out a breath; of course Mary had protected her. "Whitney, I need you to find the wounds, apply pressure to them, okay. Now, hand the phone to Teddy." Whitney did as directed, passing the phone forward to Mary's new partner. "Daniels, what the hell happened?" Stan couldn't keep the anger out of his voice.

"I don't know, Boss. There were bullets everywhere. I couldn't see the shooters from where I was." Teddy had panicked. He knew that. In all the time he'd spent in the IOD, he'd never found himself in the direct line of gunfire. He hadn't mentioned that to his new partner, or anyone in the office for that matter.

Stan knew he didn't have time to figure everything out over the phone. He had to make sure Mary got to a hospital. "UNMH, do you know where that is?"

"The University Hospital? Yea, Mary pointed it out last week." Teddy was quickly trying to remember how to get there. Luckily, he was good with directions.

"Get there, now. And I swear to God, if Mary doesn't pull through this time, I'm gonna have your badge and your ass." Stan hung up and drove faster. He checked the clock. Marshall would be out of court. They were scheduled for a plane out Wednesday morning, but there was no way Stan was going to let him sit in Miami for 12 hours while Mary was in the hospital. He called the Miami office first.

"This is Stan McQueen, from Albuquerque…I've been better, Rick…Listen, I need a favor. I need you to send a few men over to relieve Inspector Mann…I'm trying to get him on the next flight home…His, uh, girlfriend, is in the hospital, emergency…No, I haven't talked to him yet, I wanted to make arrangements for him to get home first…Thanks, Rick, I appreciate it. I'll let you know… Inspector Royce and his charge are still on tomorrow's flight… Yea, ok… Bye."

Stan next call was to his boss. "Director, I have a situation. I need a private plane out of Miami, and a ride for one of my Inspectors…Which one? The one you insisted couldn't be partnered with Shannon… No, Mann's fine, but Shannon's on the way to the hospital with several GSWs…I don't know the story yet, but I'm willing to bet good money that the new partner you insisted she have is an idiot…I don't care at this point. But I'm about to call Inspector Mann and inform him that his girlfriend is in the emergency room, so there needs to be a car at his hotel ASAP to take him to the airport, and there needs to be a plane waiting for him there…Director, last time Mary Shannon got shot, she almost didn't make it. No way am I taking that chance again. Mann's on a flight home within the hour. And once I know Mary's going to make it, we're gonna revisit the idea of them being partners…I'm glad you understand, sir, thank you…I'll be sure to let you know." Stan disconnected the call. He'd been worried that splitting Mary and Marshall up could have consequences, but he hadn't imagined this.

Steeling himself for a very painful conversation, Stan dialed Marshall's number. The younger man answered on the second ring. "Hey, Stan, what's shaking?"

The laughter in Marshall's voice just about broke Stan's heart. "Marshall, there's been a situation."

Marshall's good mood vanished. Royce watched his face go from relaxed, to dead serious in a heartbeat. "What kind of situation, the 'Mary beat someone to death' kind of situation or the 'one of your witnesses is in trouble' kind?"

Stan tried to keep his voice level. "Mary's on her way to the hospital, Marshall. One of her witnesses was tracked down, they caught her off guard." Stan didn't know exactly what happened, so he knew it was better to be vague.

"Is she alright?" He paused, waiting for an answer. When Stan remained silent, Marshall asked again, "She's going to be okay, though, Stan, right?"

"I don't know yet, Marshall. She's en route to the hospital now, with Daniels. I'm meeting her there. She called in after it happened, but her voice was fading and Whitney had to take the phone. I don't know exactly what happened. From what Whitney said, Mary was shot, more than once." He didn't want to sugar coat it for Marshall, out of fear that things might be worse than he currently thought. Last time Mary had been in the hospital, her heart had stopped. Stan still remembered how devastated Marshall had been that day, and they weren't even dating then.

"Stan, I need to be there. I can't lose her. I need to see her, to talk to her." Marshall could feel the tears, but he didn't try to stop them. Never mind the fact that there were two men, practically strangers, sitting there watching him fall apart.

"I have a car on its way to the hotel to pick you up and a plane standing by at the airport. As soon as I know Mary's condition, I'll call back."

Marshall did not have the presence of mind to thank his boss. "Stan, if you talk to her, tell her she promised me. She's not allowed to leave."

Stan felt for his Inspector. He'd known Marshall the longest, had worked with him for near a decade. He'd never seen him happier than when he was with Mary. "I'll tell her."

Marshall hung up the phone and felt the strength leave his legs. He fell onto the bed, struggling to keep himself together. He felt Royce come up next to him. "What happened, Marshall?" Royce handed him a glass of water, hoping to calm his partner down.

"Mary's been shot. Stan doesn't know how bad it is." Marshall looked down at the glass, without warning, he launched it against the wall, shattering it. "And I wasn't there, again."

"Marshall, man, whatever happened, it's not your fault. Mary's not your partner, you can't watch out for her every second anymore. That's Teddy's job now." Royce offered the words as comfort, he didn't mean to upset Marshall more.

"No, protecting Mary is my job, it's always been my job. I'm her keeper." His voice softened as he spoke. He thought about the night he'd proposed, how happy they had both been. A tendril of fear took root at the thought of never seeing Mary in her wedding dress. He stopped himself from following that train of thought. "Stan's sending a car, I'm going back."

"Marshall, think about this man, we've got a job to do. You can't just take off." Royce had seen over the past few weeks how close Marshall and Mary were, but he didn't understand the man's reaction. "You're not Mary's partner."

Marshall stood, done with this conversation, "Yes, I am." He grabbed his coat and his bag and moved toward the door. He didn't bother saying goodbye, simply swept out of the room. By the time he made it downstairs, the car was waiting for him.


	9. Chapter 9

[A/N: I really just can't write Brandi and Jinx well, so for the sake of decent dialogue and my sanity, they are both currently away. Thanks for all the reviews.]

Mary had already crossed the no admittance line by the time Stan got there. He found Teddy and Whitney in the waiting area. His inspector was staring off into space, and Whitney was pacing back and forth. As Stan entered, he had to resist the urge to smack Daniels. He went to Whitney first, "I want you to go with these marshals. They're going to make sure a nurse takes care of that arm, and then they're going to get you to a safe location, ok?"

Whitney nodded, "Stan, what about Mary? Is she going to be okay?"

Not knowing what else to say, Stan went with the truth, "I don't know, but I need to make sure you're safe. As soon as I hear anything, I'll send word."

Whitney nodded her thanks as she followed the two back up marshals that Stan had called for. Once she had disappeared to the triage unit to have her arm taken care of, Stan went to the reception desk. "Excuse me, I'm looking for news on Mary Shannon?"

The nurse looked up. "Are you family?"

"Miss Shannon is a US marshal, I'm her boss. Her family is currently out of state."

The nurse looked doubtful, not sure she should give out any information, "Let me check." The nurse turned to her computer and hit a few keys, pulling up Mary's information. She looked it over. "I'm sorry, sir, but there is no information. Miss Shannon only arrived a few minutes ago. She received three GSWs, one to the right arm, one to the right shoulder, and a third to her lower back. They're working on her now, as soon as they update her status, I'll be sure to find you." She turned away before Stan could ask anything more.

Letting out a ragged breath, Stan turned away from the desk. His eyes landed on Teddy. Knowing that Mary was somewhere in this hospital with three bullets in her trimmed what was left of Stan's fuse. He walked over to where Teddy was still sitting and staring into space, and grabbed the man's arm, hauling him up and pulling him out the emergency room entrance. He walked them several feet away and then released the marshal. "You want to explain to me what the hell happened today? How my best inspector wound up with three holes in her, the witness one, and you not a scratch?"

Teddy leaned against the wall. Tears of remorse welled in his eyes. "I'm sorry, boss. I panicked. I've never been shot at before. Mary ran in the house and told me to stay in the car, so that's what I did. I waited for her. I didn't see the shooters. She came out of the house and they were waiting for her. They just opened fire. They hit her while she was trying to get the door unlocked." Teddy covered his face with his hands.

Stan wanted to rip the man apart. In his short explanation, he'd confessed to breaking half a dozen regulations and to being one of the most incompetent partners Stan had ever seen. "Listen up, Teddy, you better start praying that Mary pulls through this, because if she doesn't you won't have to worry about the damage you've just done to your career. Marshall will kill you."

"Stan, listen, I didn't mean for anything to happen to her. She told me to stay in the car. You have to believe me." Teddy was practically begging Stan.

"Oh, I believe you. I believe that you let your partner walk head first, alone, into a potentially dangerous situation. I believe that you failed to watch her back. I believe that you are so far past the point of screwed that you should start looking for a new real estate agent. On second thought, you better start praying Mary doesn't wake up till after you've gone back east. She'll do a lot more damage than Marshall." Unable to look at the crying man any longer, Stan turned away. "Go back to the office. You stay there until I tell you to leave. And take a cab, that car is evidence."

Not waiting to see if his instructions were followed, Stan walked back into the hospital. By now, Marshall would be in the air. The flight would take roughly five hours, give or take. Stan just hoped he had some good news to deliver the next time he spoke to Marshall. The emergency room doors slid shut behind him. The admitting nurse looked up. "Excuse me, sir, you were asking about Miss Shannon?"

Stan quickened his pace, "Yes, how is she?"

"She needs to go into surgery, but she keeps asking to see a marshal. She refuses to go under until she's spoken to one. Can you convince her to let us do our job?" The nurse seemed slightly agitated.

Stan nodded right away. He understood the nurse's error. Mary wasn't asking for a marshal, she wanted her Marshall, but Stan wasn't going to waste an opportunity to speak with her, and he wasn't going to let her own stubbornness get in the way of getting fixed up. He followed the nurse as she led him past the doors and to where Mary was, once again, lying on a gurney. He let out a sigh to see her eyes open. "Mary, what are you trying to do, get yourself killed?"

It took her eyes a moment to focus on him, "Stan? Where's Marshall, they won't let me see him."

Stan placed a hand on Mary's uninjured shoulder in an effort to calm her. "Marshall's in the air, he's flying home right now. He should be here by the time you come out of surgery. But you have to let the doctors work."

She stopped struggling with him. "Marshall's okay?" Fear laced her voice.

Stan touched her cheek, "He's fine, Mary."

"Oh, ok, then we can go." She laid back down, but stopped the nurse from moving her just yet. "Wait, Stan, in case…tell him I love him, please. And that I was sure, too, it just took me some time to admit it."

Stan saw a tear slide down her cheek, but he wasn't sure if it was from the physical pain, or the emotional. He grasped her hand, "Mare, he wanted me to tell you something. When I talked to him, he asked me to remind you that you promised him you wouldn't leave."

Another tear fell. "Tell him I will try not to die, for him." The nurses refused to wait any longer. They began pushing Mary down the hallway. Stan was only able to watch for a moment before she disappeared around the corner, bound for the OR.


	10. Chapter 10

The flight was long for Marshall. In his line of work, he spent countless hours in transit. He'd long ago discovered ways to occupy his mind while moving. It was one of the main reasons why he knew all the information that Mary had deemed useless. Normally, when faced with a long, solo flight, Marshall could dive into his stores of knowledge and ponder Freud's philosophies or try to recite all of America's National Parks. But on this particular flight, his mind was jammed, stuck watching the same scene play over and over again. The only problem was that the scene he kept watching was not Mary's confession of love or the night he proposed. No, stuck on endless loop within his head, was a hallway. In his memory, the entire scene was whitewashed, the only vibrancy coming from the blood pouring from his partner's stomach. He heard the doctor's talking, communicating that Mary was unconscious and without a pulse. It was a scene both out of his nightmares and from reality. He only hoped that this time, the ending would be the same.

Stan had a car waiting for him when he landed, a good call on Stan's part, because Marshall wasn't sure he was capable of driving at this point. He watched the lights of Albuquerque fly by without really seeing anything and could formulate no responses to the words of his driver, a fellow marshal whom he'd known for years.

When the car pulled up to the hospital, Marshall barely had the presence of mind to let the vehicle come to a complete stop. He dashed into the emergency entrance, headed for the receptionist. "I'm looking for Mary Shannon."

The nurse looked up at his voice, took in his appearance, and didn't bother asking any questions. She turned back to her computer and typed in the name. "Miss Shannon is still in surgery, but it looks like they should be wrapping things up soon." Marshall let out a sigh, she was still alive. Before he could say anything further, the nurse spoke again. "Her boss is here as well, a Mr. McQueen, he's waiting in her room, if you want to join him. It's number 217."

Marshall thanked her and quickly made his way down the hall. When Mary had last been here, Marshall had spent many hours wandering these halls, whenever Raphael or Jinx wanted time alone in Mary's room. Now that he knew Mary was alive, he did not rush the journey. When he made it to the room, he looked inside to see Stan standing by the window. He opened the door slowly and stepped inside.

"I'm sorry, Marshall." He didn't turn. The driver he'd had waiting at the airport had called when he'd pulled up. He'd been expecting Marshall for ten minutes.

Marshall moved further into the room, letting the door close. "Stan, this isn't your fault."

Now Stan turned, "Yes, it is. I never should have broken you two up. I never should have allowed this to happen."

Though Marshall would rather sit alone in this room and wallow in his own fears, he knew he couldn't let Stan blame himself for this. "Neither of us blames you for splitting us up. We always knew it was a possibility, that when we told you you'd have to consider the job. It's one of the reasons we waited so long to come clean." Marshall sank into one of the chairs positioned next to the empty bed.

Stan tracked Marshall's movements with his eyes. He had known for a long time that the younger man would do anything for his partner. When Mary had been abducted, he realized that Marshall loved her, and last time she'd been shot, Stan had feared that he would lose both his marshals. He had pictured the two of them getting together more than once, he knew that they had the potential to make each other very happy. But in every scenario, he'd always figured that Mary's fear of attachment and loss would keep her from giving Marshall that last piece of herself. Yet a few hours ago, he had seen his stubborn, hot headed marshal consider the possibility that she would not make it. And in that moment, she had thought only of this man, the man she loved. Her greatest fear was being left behind, and she had sworn not to put Marshall through that. Stan moved to sit in the other chair. "Why did you risk it then? Why take the chance that you could lose each other as partners?"

Marshall thought back to that day in this very hospital when Mary had told him that she loved him. She had put everything on the line in that moment, risked their partnership, and for probably the first time in her life, completely surrendered her heart to another person. Looking in her eyes at that moment, he wouldn't have been able to deny her anything, certainly not something he wanted as badly as she did. "Because she said it was worth it. After she woke up, she was lying in one of these stupid beds, and she looked over at me, and she said she didn't want to risk missing out on being happy because she was afraid. Mary said she never could lie to me, so she didn't even want to try. The shooting had opened her eyes and she wanted to see where this could take us." Marshall smiled as he remembered that day.

"Why hide it? You could have been open from the beginning. I might have been able to deal with this better." Stan was trying to understand their reasoning.

"We weren't sure we could make it work. Mary's never been great with relationships, and I was worried it would be too much, too soon for her. We figured if we kept it low profile and things didn't work out, then we'd still be partners and everything would be fine. But it wasn't hard. All of the problems we thought would get in the way, they didn't. And then we reached a point where we weren't worried about breaking up, we were worried about being split up. That's why it took so long to come clean. We were just trying to stay together, whatever way we could."

"I've known you and Mary both for a long time now. There's nothing I want more than for the two of you to be happy. I should have never called in for new partners for you. There's a reason you two work so damn well together. This never would have happened if you'd been with her today." Stan shook his head. Both Mary and Marshall had quite a few ex partners, there were many within the service who had considered them un-pairable. So when the two of them had clicked, there was more than one surprised face in Arlington.

"You don't know that, Stan. This is hardly the first time one of us has been injured because of the job." Though he hated to admit it, Mary had been injured more than once on his watch.

"This is different. This wasn't Mary alone with a witness she couldn't control or the two of you being blindsided by a pack of gunmen trapped in the desert. This was my best marshal being out in the field with an inexperienced idiot."

"What do you mean?" Marshall's head shot up, wanting to know what exactly had gone down that ended with his fiancé getting shot.

"You know how Mary is. The reason she's one of the best is because she's so damn self sacrificing. There's almost nothing she won't do to protect her witness, and her partner. Normally, her lack of self preservation is tempered by your back up. Where Mary looks for a way to get everybody else out alive, you look for the way to get _everyone_ out alive. It's one of the many reasons that you were so effective, because you were always paying attention to what she purposely overlooked, her own safety. While she was busy rushing head first into danger or pain, you were there with a back up plan to get her back out. And you never let her rush in alone."

Marshall felt his bile rise. "She was alone?"

Stan shook his head, "She may as well have been. Teddy follows Mary around like a puppy dog. But that's part of the problem. Mary doesn't need someone trailing along behind her, she needs someone pulling on her leash, reigning her in. Daniels is terrified of her, doesn't realize her bark is worse than her bite."

Despite the levity of the situation, Marshall couldn't stop the laugh that escaped him. He knew first hand just how bad Mary's bite could be. "Can't say I blame the kid, Stan. It's not like either of us can claim we've never been afraid of her. Hell, I'm sleeping with her and I can't even claim not to fear for my life sometimes."

Stan stood, frustrated, he moved back to the window. "But you've never let her intimidate you. When she pushes, you stand your ground. You know when to listen to her and when to take control because she's not seeing the whole picture. She told Daniels to stay in the car. And he did. She went into her jeopardized witness's house alone. And instead of assessing the situation outside, he sat in the car. He didn't secure the area, he didn't check the perimeter, he didn't even unlock the damn doors. Mary was shot because her _partner _left her out in the open, totally exposed, fumbling with the door handle. If he'd been doing his job, she never would have gotten hit three times."

Marshall had nothing to say to that. He couldn't imagine ever letting Mary go into a situation like that alone. He knew when to let her handle things, and he knew when she needed backup. And though it killed him to say the next few words, he did, because he knew Stan needed to hear them. "She's going to be fine, everything's going to be fine."

Stan turned, "Don't give me that bull, Marshall. I know you better than that. This isn't fine. Mary is lying in an OR somewhere in this hospital."

Hearing the words sparked a fresh wave of anger in Marshall. "You think I don't know that, Stan? You think I haven't been picturing her bleeding out on a hospital bed for the last five hours. Do you really think I need a reminder? Believe me, I have no illusions about what is going on here. But I need to believe that she will be fine, because if I don't, then I won't be able to function."

Stan hung his head, he shouldn't have pushed. "I know, I'm sorry. But I'm going to fix this, Marshall. Daniels and Royce, they're both going back. By the time Mary's done therapy, you two will be partners again."

Marshall let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Stan."

Before either Marshall or Stan could say anything more, the door opened and a nurse walked in. "Oh, excuse me, I didn't realize that anyone was in here. I just wanted to leave Miss Shannon's personal effects."

Stan stepped forward to retrieve the large brown envelope. "I'll take that, nurse. Thank you. Any word on the surgery?"

"They're just finishing up. Everything seems to have gone well. She should be up here within twenty minutes." The nurse quickly backed out of the room.

Stan crossed to the bed, opened the envelope and poured it out. Along with Mary's badge and ID, out came a thin silver chain. Stan had known Mary for a long time, she'd never been one for jewelry. He reached out and picked up the chain. It took him a moment to recognize the object on the chain for what it was. He put his finger through it and held it up. "Umm, Inspector, is this what I think it is?"

Marshall turned toward Stan, trying to focus. On Stan's right hand, lying on the knuckle of his middle finger was Mary's engagement ring, the chain dangling. Despite the situation, Marshall felt a tinge of embarrassment. "Well, I guess that would depend on what you thought it was."

"Very funny, Inspector; this is an engagement ring. And the last time I checked, the only person in a position to give Mary one of these would be you. Care to share?" Stan wasn't angry, just surprised. He hadn't expected to see another ring on Mary's hand for a good long while.

Marshall shrugged, not having the strength to dodge the question. "We wanted to give you a chance to get used to the idea of us as a couple before we sprang this on you." He reached forward and retrieved the ring from Stan's finger.

"You don't think this is a little fast, I mean it has only been…" He paused, trying to add up the numbers.

Marshall intervened, "8 years? Stan, I've known since almost the beginning that Mary was the one for me. I would have proposed that day in the hospital if I had thought she'd take me. I love her and I'm going to spend the rest of my life showing her that she deserves to be loved. And I don't have to be her partner to do that, I don't even need to be a marshal. So if that ring changes your mind about getting us reassigned, then so be it. But there is no power on this earth that will make me walk away from her."

A part of Stan wanted to roll his eyes at Marshall's theatrics, but a bigger part of him knew that the words were not for him, but for Mary. Marshall meant every word he'd just said, you could see it in his eyes. Just as Mary had chosen new partners over ending their relationship, Marshall would leave the marshal service before he left Mary. It was love, and Stan was glad his inspectors had found it. "Relax, Marshall, I'd never ask you to walk away from her. In fact, this ring might help me get you back together. Technically, reassigning you based on your choice in significant other is discrimination. To restrict your job based on your marital status opens the door to a lawsuit and a whole lot of unpleasant press. Throw in the fact that the new partner they gave her nearly got both Mary and her witness dead, and I'm pretty sure I have enough to work with."

Marshall felt slightly reassured at Stan's words. It seemed like his boss had a plan, which was good, because right now, all Marshall had was heavy heart and the strong desire to kill one of his fellow marshals. When Teddy and Royce had first arrived, Marshall had been sure that Royce would be the one to cause problems. How wrong he was.


	11. Chapter 11

The next fifteen minutes felt like hours for Marshall, as he sat, waiting for the staff to bring Mary up from the OR. It had been two days since he'd seen her, and in that time, she'd lost enough blood to satisfy Count Dracula and gained three new bullet wounds. He wanted nothing more than to sit next to her, holding her hand, until she was discharged but he knew she wouldn't let him. He also knew that he had work that needed to be done. He would only have tonight with her. Tomorrow, he would have to go into the office and face the partner who had almost gotten her killed and the one he'd left behind in order to be at her side. It wouldn't be a pleasant day. Of course, it would all be worth it when she was released and there were two fewer desks in the office once again.

Finally, Marshall heard the sounds of a gurney being moved down the hallway. Two orderlies brought her into the room, followed by a nurse. She looked at the two men already occupying the space, and rather than ask them to leave, simply asked them to stand against the wall while she got Mary situated. Marshall watched as Mary was moved into her new bed by the two men. She was still out of it from the drugs. The nurse attached the EKG leads and the IV bag was hung on the stationary pole next to the bed. The nurse took a moment to make sure the tubes had not become tangled during the transfer and then took the bag of plasma that the orderly was offering her. She efficiently inserted the needle into Mary's arm and removed the clamp, beginning the downward flow.

When she was finished, she turned to Marshall and Stan. "Now I'm assuming you two are family, and that's why you're in here. But I don't really care. This woman needs rest. Either of you start causing problems that keep her from getting it, I'll have you thrown out. Now, the surgery went fine. The bullet to her arm didn't do any real damage, tore through some muscle is all. She'll be having some therapy for that, but with the other two holes, she won't hardly notice. The second entered her right shoulder and collided with her scapula. Again, no real damage done, course that one'll probably be the most painful when it comes to the therapy, not that that matters, she'll still be working it. The last bullet is what had the doctors worried. Because it entered just above her kidney, they wanted to be as sure as possible that no damage was done to it, or any of the surrounding organs. There wasn't any. But, with three GSWs, that's a lot of blood loss. We waited to give her this last unit till after surgery so that we could work and not risk her losing any of her newly acquired stores. She should be waking up in about an hour or so, but chances are, she'll be in a world of pain. That being the case, page me and I'll come in and see to her. But I didn't want to give her another dose just yet. One of the other nurses says she knows Miss Shannon and that she has a very high tolerance for pain, and a very low one for drugs, and that the marshal waiting in her room would assure me it was the right call." The nurse looked between the two men, hoping for some kind of response.

Marshall stepped forward, his hand extended, "Sorry, that would be me; I'm Marshall, Mary's fiancé. And it's true, Mary has a very low tolerance for drugs, she'll appreciate you not doping her up, even if it's not the smartest decision when it comes to her health. Of course, I appreciate you waiting as well, I'd really like to see her open her eyes."

The nurse looked Marshall up and down, nodding in approval. "I'm Elizabeth. Don't worry, she'll be waking up, but I promise you, she won't be happy about it. She's going to be in a lot of pain for the next couple of days, due mainly to that second bullet. She'd going to have to get over that aversion to painkillers real quick."

Marshall didn't bother explaining Mary's mindset to the nurse, she'd find out soon enough on her own. But Marshall was willing to bet, Mary would not be willingly taking any more of their drugs. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if one of the first things she tried to do was remove the IV. Just wanting some time alone with his fiancé, he kept that to himself. "Thank you, Elizabeth. I'll be sure to page you when she wakes."

Knowing a dismissal when she heard one, the nurse, turned and left the room. Stan, too, could sense that Marshall just wanted to be alone. Figuring that he had driven enough of a wedge between the couple, and wanting to give them what he could, Stan stood. "Listen, I've got to go check on Whitney, and after that, Daniels and I are going to have a nice long conversation. Give me a call, let me know when she wakes up."

Marshall's eyes did not leave his fiancé's face. "I will." Now that Mary was in front of him, he had no time for small talk or soothing other's feelings. He wanted nothing more than to sit with her, hold her hand, talk to her. He sat back in the chair, moving it beside her bed so that he could hold her hand. He entwined his fingers with hers.

Stan watched for a moment, giving Marshall a chance to say anything further, but after a few seconds, he realized that the younger man had already dismissed him. Not wanting to disturb the young couple, Stan backed out of the room. He knew that once Marshall had had a chance to speak to Mary, he'd be able to think clearly again.

Marshall barely registered the exits of his companions, so focused was he on Mary. He didn't know if he could go through this again, sitting by her bedside, hoping she'd wake up soon. It had been hard enough the first time, a year ago, when she was only his partner. But now she was his everything, and he knew, without a doubt, that he could not lose her. And despite the reassurances from the nurses, he wouldn't be able to accept her prognosis until she'd told him herself, in her exasperated 'stop hovering, or I'll kill you' way, that she was fine.

He gently raised her hand, bringing it to his lips. "Mare, I know you can hear me and I need you to listen. A year ago, you told me you wanted to take this step. We sat here, in this very hospital, and you said you were willing to bet on me. I took that bet, Mare. I've put everything I am into this relationship. There is nothing I wouldn't do for you. You wouldn't let me go, what makes you think you're allowed? I need you to come back to me, sweetheart. I can't do this without you." Marshall kept his eyes on Mary's face, trying to block out the wires and tubes attached to her and the sound of the EKG machine. He didn't want to see her this way, hurt and vulnerable. He'd known Mary for a long time, and seeing her vulnerable always broke his heart. Mary was strong and self-sufficient. She was courageous and determined. No matter what obstacles were thrown in her way, he'd never seen her fail to overcome them. He had to believe that this time would be no different. Watching her like this, with machines and tubes, it wasn't his Mary.

Time seemed to slow down. The tick of the clock was replaced by the comforting beep of Mary's heart monitor. Marshall did not know if he had been sitting by her bed for 5 minutes or five days. Trapped in a weird time warp, reminded of the last time they'd been in this particular position, he couldn't bring himself to move. When she'd woken up the last time, she'd said she was disappointed he wasn't at her side. He fully intended to be there this time, regardless of how long it took for her to open her eyes.

He felt her fingers flex first, just a gentle tightening of her hand clasped in his. He hadn't even realized how shallow his breaths were until he felt her fingers move. Her movements lifted a weight off his chest and he breathed deeply for the first time since Stan had called him in Miami. "Mare, honey, can you hear me? "

For a moment there was no response. And then, "Of course I can hear you, doofus. I'm shot, not deaf." She opened her eyes and turned her head, wanting to see Marshall. She heard the pain in his voice, so similar to the pain she'd heard a year ago, before they meant everything to each other. Finding him, she let out a sigh. Hoping to ease the tension in his eyes, she did her best to make a joke. "I don't remember déjà vu ever being this painful."

Her words had the desired effect; the pain in his eyes was quickly washed away and replaced with something new, anger. "This isn't funny." He wasn't mad at her, but the whole situation had him upset. Hearing her making jokes, knowing she was going to sweep the whole episode under the rug, still recovering from the fear of hearing she'd been shot, the words had just slipped out.

A part of her felt bad for making the joke, but a bigger part of her just wanted to put off the _drama_ that was coming. She knew Marshall had every right to be upset, hell she was upset. But right now, she wanted nothing more than to hold his hand and relish in the fact that they were both alright. Hoping she could make that happen, she tried again. "I'm fine, Marsh. I mean, I'm going to be alright. Can we just focus on that for a minute, before we start pointing fingers over what happened?"

He should have expected her desire to put it all off, should have anticipated her need to have a _moment_ before she had to think about it all. She'd been like that all the time he'd known her, able to deal with everyone else's problems without preamble, but needing time to analyze her own before facing them. He should have seen that coming and known to give it to her. But he was on edge and not thinking clearly. He should have just been happy to see her awake. Instead, he started the conversation he thought she was avoiding. "What happened, Mare? What happened is your _partner_ wasn't where he was supposed to be when you needed him."

Mary's heart stopped. The anger in Marshall's eyes mixed with the words he'd uttered, the derision when he said the word partner, scared her. Her exhausted mind and drug-altered senses jumped to a conclusion that scared her more than the prospect of Marshall leaving her ever had. _It never happened. The last year, us being together, him proposing, none of it happened. It was all a stupid, perfect, horrible dream, and now I'm awake. Raphael is in some waiting room down the hall and the reason I'm in the hospital is because I was protecting Francesca, not Whitney._ Her mind fought to reject the conclusion even as her heartbeat sped up. "No, you weren't supposed to be there. You aren't supposed to be here. This is wrong. This is all wrong." She looked at her left hand, hoping to see a modest claddagh given to her in an upscale restaurant, and not a stupid rock fished out of a pocket in her own kitchen. But her hand was empty. "My ring, where's my ring?"

Marshall watched Mary go from completely calm to full on panic in three seconds. Instead of pulling her ring out of the pocket he'd placed it in for safe keeping, he stood and tried to calm her. "Mare, relax, it's safe, okay. Just calm down; tell me what's wrong."

As he spoke, Elizabeth, Mary's nurse entered the room. "What did I tell you? I gave you specific instructions not to upset my patient. She's not awake five minutes and already her stats are all over the place. I'm gonna have to ask you to leave. I don't care who you are."

Elizabeth took a step toward the bed, syringe in hand to sedate her patient. Mary, seeing the drugs, tried to move away. "No, no drugs. I don't want them." She turned to her partner, her fiancé, her everything, whether he knew it or not, "Marshall, please, don't let her. I don't want to sleep again."

Hearing the plea in her voice, a quality he'd only ever heard there when Mary was truly at her most desperate, like when she'd woken with nightmares after her abduction, Marshall quickly moved to action. He stepped around the bed and placed himself between the nurse and Mary's IV. "She's fine. It was just the shock of waking up, she wasn't sure where she was for a minute. Her stats will even out in a second, she just needs a moment to breath." He hoped Elizabeth would listen, because he didn't want to go to extremes, but there was no way he was letting the nurse administer that dose. Not when Mary had begged.

As if to back up his words, Mary began taking deep breaths, trying to even out her heart rate, hoping the nurse would leave. She needed to talk to Marshall, needed to tell him…everything. Her will power proving stronger than her panic attack, the spikes on the EKG read out began to spread out, returning to an even rhythm. The nurse saw the change, and begrudgingly recapped the syringe. "Alright, but I see another spike, and I'm sedating her. She can't recover if her heart's being stressed." She turned around and exited, muttering to herself as she went.

When the door finally clicked closed, Marshall turned to Mary. He saw that though her heart had returned to a normal pace, there were tears in her eyes, another rarity for his tough-as-nails partner. Without another thought, he sat next to her, pulling her close. "Hey, relax, I'm sorry I scared you, I shouldn't have pushed. We don't have to talk about what happened, that can wait. You're right, you're okay, and that's what matters."

Feeling his arms around her, whether their relationship was all a figment of her relationship or not, calmed her. _So what if it's all a dream. Doesn't mean it can't all happen. It'll just be easier this time, I know we can make it._ She took a deep breath, stealing herself for what was coming, just in case it didn't go the way it had in her dream. "I love you, Marsh."

Marshall pulled back and caught Mary's eyes. He'd never felt for anyone the depth of love he felt for the stubborn blonde in his arms. He leaned forward and captured her lips. Careful not to upset the monitors, and thus bring the nurse back, he pulled back after a moment. "I love you too, Mare, more than I ever thought possible."

It was his kiss that opened her eyes. She felt like an idiot for a moment, realizing that the last year had in fact happened. _Stan must have told Marshall Teddy fucked up._ That explained the anger at her _partner. _She let out a sigh, glad she wouldn't have to start their relationship from scratch when she was so ready to be his wife in this moment. She placed her head on his shoulder, reaching for his hand. "Call Stan, tell him you proposed and let's get married, right now."

Marshall let out a small chuckle. "Stan knows." He reached into his pocket for her engagement ring. He held it out for her. "They gave him your personal effects. He saw this and called me on it. Though he never actually congratulated us, I'm pretty sure he meant too. He said he's going to get us back together."

Mary tried not to get her hopes up, "Partners?"

Nodding, Marshall slipped the ring back onto her finger, "Yup. He said we'd be reassigned before you were done rehab. And once you are, we'll have our wedding. No sense getting married when you can't enjoy the honeymoon. Besides, having a wedding to plan will give you something to do while you're on bed rest."

She didn't argue, or even scoff. Instead she smiled. The prospect of planning a wedding to _Marshall _appealing to her in a way one to Raphael never had, especially when coupled with the thought of a honeymoon with him and the chance to be in the field together again. After a moment, she broke the silence, "Speaking of partners, where are they?"

"Royce is still in Miami. I left him there with my witness when I got Stan's call. I couldn't wait for the flight home tomorrow, I needed to be here." He gave her a slight squeeze, hoping she'd understand how important being by her side was. "Stan sent Daniels back to the office as soon as he got here, so I figure he's still there. I'm pretty sure Stan plans on making him do all Whitney's relocation paperwork by himself."

Mary nodded. If Stan had been here, he would have made sure that Whitney was checked out and then moved to a safe location. She let herself relax against Marshall. Her arm burned, her shoulder hurt, and her abdomen felt like someone was drawing on it with a hot poker. But she wasn't about to ask for drugs.

Unfortunately, Marshall knew that, knew her. "I'm gonna call your nurse back. You need to rest, and you can't do that if you're in pain." Off the fear in her eyes, he placed a kiss to her forehead. "I'll stay, I'll keep you safe." He settled them back against the pillows before pressing the call button. Elizabeth made no comment about him being in Mary's bed, simply administered the drugs and disappeared. Mary leaned against her fiancé and allowed her body to relax. While ten minutes ago she had been terrified to sleep, she knew now that Marshall would still be the one beside her when she woke.


	12. Chapter 12

The couple slept through the night. Marshall called Stan in the morning when he woke up and promised to make an appearance at the office sometime around noon. Marshall wanted to talk to Mary's doctor before leaving, get a more exact handle on her condition and wanted to hear firsthand the timeline for her recovery, knowing that Mary had a habit of shortening such things to fit her mood. He also wanted to spend some time with his fiancé, who not only disliked hospitals but also had a penchant for pushing her limits when she was bored. His presence might stave off boredom and would certainly keep some of the nurses from contemplating sedating Mary just for some peace and quiet.

Marshall made it through lunch at the hospital before Mary finally kicked him out, under the guise that he was hovering when he should be working, though he knew it was because she didn't want him to see her in pain, and she was running out of the strength required to pretend she wasn't. On his way out, he sent Elizabeth to her room with another dose of pain killers. The SUV that had driven Marshall from the airport had been left in the parking lot for him, until he could get his own car from his house. He climbed in, started the engine, and turned toward the Sunshine Building. When he pulled into the parking structure, he took a deep breath before disembarking, wanting to keep his temper once inside, knowing it would be no easy task.

When the elevator opened on the floor he'd worked on for over a decade, he was surprised to find Stan was not there. He opened the security gate and moved into the office. Voices drew him toward the conference room. He paused before entering, listening to the conversation.

"He just took off, left me with his witness and no back up. For months I've heard these two are the best team of WitSec inspectors in the country, and so far, I've yet to be impressed." Royce's voice was easily recognizable. Marshall hadn't realized that it was late enough for his original flight to have already landed. Before he could enter the room and set Royce straight, a second voice sounded.

"Exactly, I did what she told me to do. What else was I supposed to do? She's the senior agent, it's her witness. How was I supposed to know that the _amazing marshal Shannon _needed backup? She didn't want me there, she made it clear she was perfectly capable of handling the situation herself." Teddy was trying to sound tough. From what Stan had told Marshall on the phone that morning, the younger man had been terrified when Stan had come into the office last night. But Marshall realized that Daniels must have seen Royce as his one chance at not coming off like an incompetent twat.

"What I don't get is why the hell McQueen called HQ for new partners in the first place. It's perfectly clear that neither Shannon nor Mann wanted new partners. They haven't been the least bit welcoming." Royce brought his mug to his lips, taking a deep sip, Teddy mirrored his actions.

Marshall took that as his cue to enter. "You're right, I didn't want a new partner, neither did Mary. You two idiots were forced on us by Stan's bosses. Of course, after this whole shit storm settles, you'll both be back East, and Mary and I can get back to our lives." Marshall paused, allowing the two marshals he'd interrupted a chance to mop up the coffee they'd spewed everywhere when he'd surprised them. When they looked remotely calmed down, Marshall continued, turning first to Royce, "You weren't without back up. Stan called the Chief in Miami and put two marshals on standby, just in case. And none of that would have been necessary if _this_" he jerked a thumb toward Daniels, "dumbass hadn't dropped the ball. He let his partner walk into a dangerous situation without offering any kind of backup. Mary's currently got _three_" he held up fingers to emphasize "bullet wounds and is lying in a hospital bed because of his incompetence."

He watched Royce open and close his mouth for a moment before giving up. Marshall then turned his attention to Daniels. He took two steps forward, placing himself very much in Daniels' personal space. "And _you_…you're lucky she's awake. You have a lot of nerve trying to blame any of this on her. Mary Shannon has one of the best records in WitSec and she's one of the most capable people I've ever met. You're the reason she's in that hospital. What you deserve, is a lesson. As her partner, I want to take you out back and teach you the definition of backup. As her best friend, I want to take out my gun and teach you about pain." He took another step forward, "As her fiancé, I just want to kill you."

He heard both men sputter at that admission. "You're her fiancé? But…oh God" He watched Daniels turn green.

Over his shoulder, Royce was coming to a similar conclusion, "You mean that whole time I was hitting on her…and then yesterday…Shit. That's why they sent us, regs say partners can't date."

Marshall threw a look over his shoulder. "Don't worry. That mistake will be fixed soon enough." Marshall heard the security gate close, signaling that Stan had returned. He left the conference without another word to the other marshals. When he moved into the main room of the office, Stan froze in step; "Hey, Stan."

"Marshall. How's Mary doing?" He'd stayed away from the hospital and refrained from calling to give Marshall and Mary some time together. When they'd talked that morning, it had been brief, mostly business. Having Marshall in the office reassured him that Mary was doing much better.

The mention of his partner, combined with Stan's obvious concern, brought a small smile to Marshall's face. "She's doing fine. She kicked me out about an hour ago."

Stan let out a small chuckle. If Mary had kicked him out, and he had listened, she must be doing better. He felt a weight lift from his shoulders with that knowledge. Being at fault for Mary's injury, however indirectly, was not something he liked; knowing she would recover did help to sooth that some. "Good, the sooner she's back in the office, the better. It's too quiet when she's out."

Marshall nodded, remembering the long weeks of heavy silence that had existed last time Mary was out of the office, made worse for him because all he'd wanted was to be home with her. "How's Whitney doing? Mary said I wasn't allowed back in the room without an update."

Knowing that it was quite possible that Mary had given such an order, Stan smiled. "After I left the hospital last night, I called Phoenix and had two marshals sent in. I just left the train station. Whitney's on her way to a new location. She made me promise to let her know how Mary's doing." Stan looked over Marshall's shoulder, taking in the still shocked looks on the faces of the two men in the conference room. "What's been going on here?"

Marshall took a casual glance over his shoulder. "I was just explaining a few things to them." He saw a hint of irritation flare in Stan's eyes. Normally, it would be understandable, but in this case, the other marshals had been in the wrong, trying to blame Mary. He had been justified in putting them in their place and would not apologize for it. "There were some things they needed to hear, explanations. I wanted them to understand what the last month has been. There's no way I'm going to let either of them leave here thinking that Mary was in any way at fault for yesterday. And I needed to explain to Royce why I left Miami."

Understanding filled Stan's expression. He hadn't realized that Marshall had left Miami without explaining to Royce why he was leaving. And he had every right to set the record straight where blame was concerned. "Yea, alright, listen, Marshall, you don't need to be here. Go be with Mary. I'm gonna call Arlington and get the ball rolling on your reassignments. Daniels will be out of here before the end of the work week. Do you mind if I have Royce stick around until Mare's back on her feet? You're better off with a partner and he's already broken in."

Again, Marshall looked back toward the conference room. Royce was a decent enough marshal, if it weren't for the fact that he was trying to fill Mary's shoes, Marshall believed the two of them would be able to work together fine. Having him recast as filler instead of permanent would make their partnership much more tolerable. "No, I can work with Royce. As long as it's not permanent, I can be a team player."

Stan opened his mouth as if he were going to argue, but thought better of it. Instead, he clapped Marshall on the shoulder and said goodbye, heading into his office to start making phone calls. He knew Marshall would be headed out and back to the hospital.


	13. Chapter 13

As promised, Daniels was on a plane back east by lunch time Friday. Stan allowed him to stay in Albuquerque only as long as it took to finish the transfer paperwork and pack his things up. As he was packing up the last of his personal effects from his desk, Marshall approached him. He'd waited to do so until both Royce and Stan were occupied elsewhere, wanting a chance to talk to the man without people hovering, waiting for him to swing.

As Marshall moved toward his desk, Teddy felt himself break out in a cold sweat. He'd been afraid that the other marshal wouldn't let him leave without some physical retribution for his ineptitude. He knew that in a fight, he didn't stand a chance against Marshall Mann, and he also knew that whatever damage the man inflicted on him would be wholly deserved. Having learned his lesson, though, he did not shrink back. He stood and awaited whatever was coming his way.

Marshall took in the younger man's pose and felt a twinge of respect. He could have turned tail and run, seeking out Stan, or the more sympathetic Royce. But here he stood ready to take whatever was coming. For a brief moment, he considered toying with Daniels, then decided he'd rather just have him on his way out of town, there was no need to scare him. "Relax, Daniels, I have no intention of laying hands on you. I just want to talk." He watched the tension leave Teddy's shoulders. When Marshall opened his mouth again, he pulled no punches. "You don't belong in WitSec. You don't belong in the field. When you get back east, find a desk and stay behind it. There's plenty of good that can be done as a marshal from in front of a computer. And if you're there, you're not putting anyone else's life at risk. Partners need to be able to rely on each other whole heartedly, no reservations. You're not cut out for that and if you try to prove otherwise, you could end up killing someone." Marshall said the words without malice. He wasn't being mean or trying to threaten, it was just fact. Daniels was brilliant, but his genius was not suited for the high stakes involved in field work.

For a brief second, Teddy wanted to argue, to tell the man facing him to mind his own business. But then his eyes strayed to the empty desk just over Marshall's shoulder and the sight of Mary bleeding on a stretcher, being pushed past the no admittance doors came into mind. He nodded. "You're right. Marshall, I'm sorry for what happened. I never wanted Mary to get hurt. I know the other day it sounded like I was putting her down, but in all honesty, I think she's kind of amazing. She's one of the most compassionate people I've ever met and the way she's able to handle everything that's thrown at her… She's something else. I wasn't prepared for it, not after that first day, when John and I got here, and you said she wasn't good with people."

Marshall was speechless for a moment. Not many saw Mary for what she really was. They saw her rough exterior and heard her sarcasm and they dismissed her. Few had ever taken the time to really look at Mary Shannon, to see her unfailing loyalty, her determined spirit, her great heart. If Teddy had learned all that in his short time here, then Marshall felt a thin connection with the man. "I know. I lied." He reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope, holding it out for Daniels. "This is from her. She wanted to talk to you in person, but the doctor wouldn't let her leave."

Teddy reached forward hesitantly and took the letter. Rather than open it, he put it in his own pocket, deciding to save it for the long flight home. He looked up and met Marshall's eyes. "Will you do me a favor, just tell her that it was an honor to work with her. And that I'm sorry I let her down."

Marshall nodded. He saw the sincerity in Teddy's eyes. "I'll tell her." Having nothing further to say, Marshall turned and headed for the elevator.

Though he would prefer to spend the day at Mary's side, staving off her boredom and making sure she didn't push herself too far, she had nixed that idea. She insisted that one of them should be in the office, seeing to their witnesses, and while she would be more than happy to be the one working, there were three men standing in her way, two of whom carried guns and the third who had the ability to dope her to high heaven, that being the case, Marshall was the only other choice.


	14. Chapter 14

It took six long months of physical therapy before Mary was back to normal. The bullet to her shoulder had seriously affected her arm and she had failed qualifications on the shooting range the first time around. The doctor had cleared her for desk duty after a few weeks in the hospital, but she couldn't, and wouldn't, go in the field until she could rely on her skills with a weapon. Though it grated on her last nerve to be stuck behind a desk, she bore it with dignity most days, mostly because she knew Stan could kick her out of the office entirely if he really wanted to. It also helped that at least behind a desk, she got to spend most days with Marshall. Though every time he and Royce left on assignment, she wanted to throw something, she, for the most part, kept her jealousy and anger to herself, at least in the office. Marshall always called her on it when they were alone together.

Her convalescence brought them closer together. Rather than spend her recovery alone in her own home, or worse, invite Jinx or Brandi to help her, she spent most nights at Marshall's. If she was completely honest, she liked his house better anyway. Despite the new renovations to her own place, courtesy of the FBI, she never felt as at home there as she did at Marshall's. For a long time, she simply chalked it up to not knowing what a home was meant to feel like, but after a few weeks at her fiancé's, she realized her place had been just that, a place. At Marshall's, she was never just coming home, she was always coming home to him. That made all the difference.

The day after she requalified, she went home early, while Marshall was stuck in the office finishing up paperwork. Having been stuck on desk duty for so long, she was very caught up on the administrative front. She stopped at the market on the way home and got everything she would need to make Marshall a home cooked meal. She made a quick pit stop at the hardware store and then headed to Marshall's to start cooking. Because she'd never really had the occasion, or the necessary equipment, growing up, Mary had made a supreme effort upon getting her own place to become a more than decent cook. She remembered plenty of nights where half assed sandwiches were the meal of necessity, and had been determined to prevent similar situations from arising.

She made Marshall meatloaf, with spinach mashed potatoes and brown sugar carrots on the side. While the food was cooking, she pulled out her bag from the hardware store and grabbed the box her engagement ring had come in. She wasn't usually one for romantic gestures, but tonight she was making the effort. They had been engaged for almost seven months, and dating for over a year and a half. She was ready to tie the knot, something she'd never thought she'd be able to say. She pulled the key she'd had made out of the bag and placed it in the box. Of course, she and Marshall had traded keys to each other's places long before they'd been dating, but the key she's had made wasn't to her house, or to Marshall's. It was to their house. She planned on telling him tonight that she was officially moving in, and putting her own place up on the market. She was also going to tell him that she'd reserved a space for their anniversary, a space for their wedding. She figured combining the two anniversaries would make both their lives easier down the road. That gave her 5 months to plan the wedding, more than enough time, considering she'd just had weeks of desk duty, much of which had been spent in research and planning.

She had just finished setting the table when she heard the front door open. She could hear Marshall's voice and stopped herself from calling to him, assuming that he was on the phone. She knew he'd make his way into the dining room to find her eventually. True to form, she heard footsteps a few minutes later. Rather than approach her, as she expected, he hung back in the doorway. He let out a low whistle.

Mary responded without turning, "Can't blame a woman for wanting to look good for you, can you?" She'd found a beautiful red dress at the mall a few weeks ago, where she'd spent time while banned from the office. Though the trips to the mall had been more Brandi and Jinx's idea then her own, they'd convinced her to tag along under the guise that it would increase her stamina and stretch her muscles. She hadn't been able to resist this when she saw this dress. Brandi's support had sealed the deal. After getting shot, she'd been more or less forced to tell her family about her relationship. Neither Brandi nor Jinx had been that surprised and both fully supported the engagement. Her sister had assured her that Marshall would love this, and it would be a suitable replacement for the lingerie she disliked.

She heard his footsteps as he moved across the floor. He slipped his arms around her and leaned his lips next to her ear. "No, I can't, but what will your fiancé think?"

Mary whipped around, pushing Royce off. "John, what the hell are you doing here? Where the hell is Marshall?"

"I'm right here. What's going on?" Marshall entered the dining room, his mouth dropping when he saw Mary. It took him a moment to recover.

Royce chuckled, not at all embarrassed by the situation. "Mary just made a pass at me."

Rather than blurt out her initial angry retort, Mary just smirked at him. "Oh yea, cause why would I want a real man when I could have you." To his credit, Royce just laughed.

Marshall looked between the two and rolled his eyes. In the time that Mary had been on desk duty, the two of them had made it a combined mission to insult and take jabs at each other as often as possible. It made Mary's repartee with Eleanor look like dialogue from Mr. Roger's. "It's like I'm working with Beavis and Butthead." He moved forward and placed a soft kiss on Mary's temple. "Do you mind if John joins us for dinner?" He cast a quick glance at the spread she'd laid out, tablecloth, center piece, candles, wondering if he had forgotten something important.

Quickly cancelling the plans she'd had for the evening, Mary offered a smile. "The more the merrier. Let me go grab an extra setting." She moved away from Marshall and into the kitchen in order to grab a plate and silverware.

John watched her walk out. "You sure this is cool, man? It looks like she kind of had something planned."

Marshall shook his head. He knew Mary, tact was not her strong suit. If she'd wanted John to leave, she would have said so. "She's been stuck in the house for awhile, she has to entertain herself somehow. You want a beer?" Royce nodded and Marshall followed his fiancé out.

When he entered the kitchen, Mary was reaching into the cabinet for a plate. He moved next to her, his back resting against the fridge, facing her. "So what's with the dress code? Am I missing something?"

Mary gave him one of her rare but genuine smiles. "Just a little celebration of sorts, no big deal." She placed the plate on the counter, rested a hand against his chest, leaned in and kissed him.

Taking advantage of her lean in, he wrapped an arm around her waist. "And what are we celebrating?"

Mary's smile turned into a smirk. "It's official, things can go back to normal. I requalified on the range this morning, my stats almost perfect. And yesterday at the doctor's office, he officially cleared me. As of today, I'm back." She gave him another quick kiss, "and that means that this is the last meal I'll be cooking for at least a month." When she moved back the smirk was once again in place.

Marshall laughed. "So this isn't a celebration, so much as it is a gloating party on your part? You get to go back to the salt mines…"

"And you get to come back to the kitchen, where you belong. All will be right with the world. I'm so glad we're on the same page."

Marshall rolled his eyes and released her. Though Mary liked cooking, she was tired of it. But it had been just about the only activity her doctor had allowed her for the last few months, so she'd done it as often as possible. Marshall turned around and reached into the fridge for beers for the three of them. "I'm going to go keep our guest company."

Mary nodded, "I'll be out with dinner in a few minutes." She handed Marshall the extra setting, trading him for her beer.

After placing the bottles on the table, Marshall laid out the setting. Royce took a swig of his beer and then motioned toward the kitchen, "So are you in trouble? What'd you do, forget your anniversary?"

Marshall laughed, "Trust me, I'm not the one with the memory problems in this relationship." He took a swig of his own beer. "Actually, this is Mary's way of telling me that the doctor cleared her. This is the last meal I can expect from her for a good long while."

Royce laughed. "Well, at least she went all out. I'd be willing to cook a few meals for her if I thought I could get her to put on an outfit like that." Marshall simply rolled his eyes. Since Marshall had revealed the truth about him and Mary, Royce had once again taken to making passes at her. All three of them knew he was joking and that he respected her. The remarks were all in good fun now, no intent behind them whatsoever.

Mary chose that moment to enter, bearing the main course. "Dinner is served." It only took her a few moments to set out the food. The three of them enjoyed a nice, jovial meal. Though Mary wouldn't admit it to him, she would be sad to see Royce go. He wasn't half bad, and he had certainly helped to stave off the boredom while she was stuck in the office. Of course, that service would no longer be needed now that she had been cleared. Royce ended up staying for about 3 hours, before excusing himself, saying he still had packing to do if he wanted to make his flight out on the coming weekend.

As Marshall closed the door behind him, Mary came to stand behind him, a few feet away, leaning against the wall. He felt her presence there and smiled. Then he turned around to face her. "So, now do you want to tell me what tonight was really all about?"

Mary smiled. He could read her as well as she could read him. She pushed off from the wall and moved toward him. From behind her back, she pulled the small box and held it out for him. He looked at her quizzically for a moment, recognizing the box as one he had given to her containing a very important ring. He reached out slowly and took it, his eyes still focused on her face. Lifting the lid slowly, he looked down. His confusion grew. "Uh, Mare…?"

She wrapped her arms around him. "That, Mr. Mann, is the key to _our_ house."

Marshall's face lit up. "You're moving in?"

"Yup. I might as well, pretty much all my stuff is here anyway." He stopped any other words that might have come with his lips. The kiss was long and passionate and it almost made Mary forget the other half of her announcement. Marshall took slow steps backward, moving them toward the bedroom. Mary let him. She hadn't had sex in six months, and she was ready to change that.

Despite the passion that he had kissed her with in the hall, he was gentile as he pushed her back onto the bed, mindful of her still recovering injuries. He unbuttoned his shirt and discarded it, following her down and hovering over her. "You up for this? I don't want to hurt you."

Mary reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Shut up and kiss me, you fool." She pulled him down, holding him tight to her body. She trailed kisses from his mouth, along his jaw line to his ear. Once there, she pulled back slightly, "there was one other thing I wanted to tell you."

Using all his self control, Marshall pulled himself back. "And what's that?"

"I reserved the Rio Grande Botanic Gardens. We're getting married in 5 months." Mary whispered the words, her focus more on the sex than on the sentence. Sure she wanted to get married, but that was months away, this was now.

Marshall, however, pulled back. "Are you serious?"

"Am I ever not?" Marshall's answer was to pull her close. The sex that evening made up for their six month hiatus.


	15. Chapter 15

Mary stood on the sand, gazing out at the ocean. It was the one thing she missed most about New Jersey, the one thing Albuquerque didn't have, a beach. She'd spent countless hours of her youth on the sand, staring out at the horizon. When you were looking at the vast ocean, miles of water lain out in front of you like a never ending blue blanket, the troubles of everyday life didn't seem so big. What was the pain of her father's abandonment compared to the millions of tons of water that could easily crush her in a single wave? What were the dozen or so empty bottles of liquor that her mother had consumed compared to the gallons of seawater that could fill her lungs if she simply took a dozen steps forward? What was another eviction notice, notice of cancellation, final notice, etc. compared to the majesty of the ocean? When she was young, the ocean had been the thing that kept her sane.

So when Marshall had asked her where in the world she had wanted to spend their honeymoon, she had known without a doubt, that wherever they went, there would be a beach. Marshall had spent his life in the mid-west, born in Texas, brief stays in Oklahoma and Nebraska, now New Mexico. Sure, he'd seen the ocean, lots of travel was one of the perks to being a marshal. But he'd never really had the opportunity to appreciate the shore. And since her seashore sanctuary had been replaced by his living room upon moving to Albuquerque, Marshall becoming the thing that kept her sane rather than the ocean, she knew she wanted to give him an opportunity to experience the waves as she had.

Marshall knew a hundred and one tidbits and pieces of trivia about the ocean, but he had no clue what it was like to stand with the sand beneath his feet and the sea spray upon his face, gazing out over the horizon as the sun set. She intended to give him that.

So here they were: she'd worn the dress, she'd said the vows, she'd even tossed the bouquet. And now she was Mrs. Marshall Mann, and as she looked out at the blue waters of Tahiti, she felt the man whom had so graciously given his name wrap his arms around her. "I get it now. What you were trying to explain to me about places like this. I'm standing here and everything else is just…what's the word…tiny?"

Mary leaned back and placed her head against his shoulder. "No, not tiny. Tiny is the one thing I don't feel right now. How about removed? Like it's just me and you and this beach. Like this moment right here, the way we're feeling right now, it can just extend into infinity, just like the ocean. I want it to stay this way forever."

Marshall placed a kiss on his wife's cheek. "That's the whole point. Forever, I mean, that's why I gave you that ring. I want you to be my forever"

"You're such a girl." She turned around in his arms to face him, "But I like the way that sounds. I want you to be my forever, too."

They stood that way as the sun slowly sank below the horizon. Today had been the best day of Mary's life. Her mind flew back to the moment she had stepped into the aisle, two dozen feet separating her from Marshall. Taking that first step had been hard, not because she was afraid, but because there was still some part of her, the 7 year old girl, who didn't want to make that walk alone. But then Marshall had captured her gaze, and before she knew it, she'd been standing next to him. She'd lost track of the words being said as she'd held his gaze, until he'd opened his mouth to say his vows. _Webster's dictionary lists over two dozen definitions for the word love. And there's not a one of them that comes close to defining exactly how I feel about you. Mary Shannon, you are the most incredible woman that I have ever met. I have spent the last nine years by your side, and there's no where else I would rather spend the rest of my days. You've given me more than I thought possible, and I promise to spend the rest of my life showing you how grateful I am for that. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, Mare. _His vows were short and sweet, and perfect. She'd taken a deep breath before opening her own mouth, trying her hardest to keep her voice level. _I've spent my life putting up walls trying to protect my heart, doing my best to keep everyone around me from getting too close. And I was ready to accept that I would end up alone. But then I met you, and you called me out on my defenses. Since the day we've met, you've been the one person I could rely on, no matter what. When you told me that day in the hospital that the decision was up to me, I knew that there was no real decision to be made. You are my everything, Marsh, my partner, my best friend, my love. I can't promise that this will be easy, in fact I can pretty much guarantee that it won't be, but I can promise you that I will never walk away. I love you, Marshall Mann, and I am really glad I made that bet._

For all the speed of her first marriage and the grumbling she'd done about her last engagement, she'd never really expected to have the perfect wedding day. But, with Marshall, she'd had just that. It was amazing all the things that Marshall had given her. As the last of the sun's rays faded from the sky, Mary pulled away, turning to face her new husband. "Hey, Marshall, happy anniversary."

Marshall leaned forward, capturing Mary's lips in a gentile kiss. "Happy anniversary, sweetheart."

_[A/N: So that's it. Thanks for reading and I hoped you liked reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.]_


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